Baroness D'Souza elected speaker of House of Lords

London: Independent candidate Baroness D’Souza was on Monday elected as the speaker of the prestigious British House of Lords. She edged out Lord Meghnad Desai and four others in a keenly contested election. She succeeds Baroness Hayman. [caption id=“attachment_43651” align=“alignleft” width=“380” caption=“The Lord Speaker chairs daily business in the chamber and is an ambassador for the House, but has far fewer powers than their Commons counterpart. Stefan Wermuth/Reuters”]  [/caption] She will take on the post in September, succeeding Baroness Hayman. The Lord Speaker chairs daily business in the chamber and is an ambassador for the House, but has far fewer powers than their Commons counterpart. D’Souza was elected after four rounds of counting under the alternative vote (AV) system, the BBC reported. She defeated Tory peer Lord Colwyn in the final round by 296 to 285 votes. The remaining candidates - Lib Dem peers Lord Redesdale and Baroness Harris of Richmond, Labour’s Lord Desai and Conservative Lord Goodlad - were eliminated in that order in earlier rounds. At an election hustings earlier this month, D’Souza said she saw the main function of the role to make Parliament “more accessible” and to represent the Lords while “protecting the security and the reputation of the House”. D’Souza was elected as convener of the group of cross bench peers - who do not take the whip of any political party - in 2007. She played a leading role earlier this year in trying to broker a compromise between the Lords and the Commons during an acrimonious stand-off over the AV referendum and proposed parliamentary boundary changes. She has also served on the Lords procedure and privileges committees. She will chair her first session from the woolsack on September 5. PTI