Labour to unveil plans to abolish hereditary peers in Lords
Plans to get rid of the remaining hereditary peers from the House of Lords will be revealed on Thursday, marking the biggest shake-up of Parliament in decades.
Abolishing the 92 seats reserved for hereditary peers – who inherit their titles through their family – was one of Labour’s election promises.
The move finishes reforms started by the last Labour government, which revoked the 700-year-old right of all hereditary peers to sit in the Lords in 1999, leaving only 92 remaining as a comprise with the Conservatives.
Labour has also promised to introduce a retirement age of 80 for members of the Lords but that will happen later, after a consultation.
Constitution Minister Nick Thomas-Symonds said the legislation – which is beginning its journey into law with a first reading in the Commons – was a “landmark reform to our constitution”.
He added: “The hereditary principle in law-making has lasted for too long and is out of step with modern Britain.
“The second chamber plays a vital role in our constitution and people should not be voting on our laws in Parliament by an accident of birth.
“This bill shows this government’s commitment to delivering on our manifesto and is an important part of putting politics in the service of working people.”
Sir Keir Starmer is in favour of abolishing the House of Lords and replacing it with an elected Assembly of the Nations and Regions but that will not happen before the next election.
Labour’s election manifesto called House of Lords reform “long overdue” and “essential” as the chamber is too large and many peers fail to serve democracy.
Several attempts have been made to change the upper chamber over the years, but reforming the House of Lords is notoriously difficult as peers themselves must approve any changes.
Sir Tony Blair’s Labour government reached a deal with the Tories to massively reduce the number of hereditary peers from around 800 to the current 92.
During the coalition government, an attempt by the Liberal Democrats’ to replace the House of Lords with an elected chamber collapsed after talks with Conservative rebels failed.
About half of hereditary peers still in the chamber are Conservatives, with the rest mainly independent Crossbenchers and a small number of Labour and Liberal Democrat peers.
On the Conservative benches are Lord Attlee – grandson of Labour prime minister Clem Attlee – and the Duke of Wellington whose great-great-great-grandfather defeated Napoleon at Waterloo in 1815
Viscount Stansgate, whose father Tony Benn renounced his peerage to sit in the Commons, is one of two Labour hereditary peers.
Lord Ravensdale, the great-grandson of Oswald Mosley who founded the British Union of Fascists in the 1920s and 1930s, sits as a crossbench peer.
The Earl Marshal and Lord Great Chamberlain had been expected to keep their seats due to ceremonial functions in state occasions, but will also be removed under the plans.
Most Lords are entitled to a £342 daily allowance, external for each sitting day they attend – although they can choose not to claim.
Some also receive a salary, including the Lord Speaker, who receives £106,363.
Government ministers in the Lords are entitled to ministerial salary, external, which ranges from £66,884 to £106,363, although the actual amount claimed is slightly below these figures.
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