With addition 10 July 2025
The Labour Party's 2024 manifesto promised Constitutional Reform in a number of areas. On the House of Lords they said that the right of hereditary peers to sit and vote in the House of Lords would be removed. In addition, a mandatory retirement age would be introduced - i.e. at the end of the Parliament in which a member reaches age 80, they will be required to retire from the House of Lords.
The manifesto also promised to
- ensure that all peers meet the 'high standards the public expect of them'
- introduce new participation requirements
- reform the appointments process to improve the quality of new appointments
- improve the national and regional balance of the Chamber.
The House of Lords (Hereditary Peers) Bill was duly introduced.
The Bill was basically pushed through the House of Commons on 12 November 2024 when a "Committee of the Whole House" debated it and Third Reading immediately followed.
The Bill is now at Report Stage in the House of Lords and a considerable number of amendments have been tabled.
Amendment 23 is in the name
of crossbench peer Lord Burns and others and it seeks to reduce the size of the House. Here it is .....
Lord Burns chaired a committee which reported on 31 October 2017 and recommended that the size of the House be reduced to 600. See the Report of the Lord Speaker's committee on the size of the House
Nothing was done to implement that recommendation with the result that the House is ridiculously large. This is undoubtedly because Prime Ministers of all political colours wish to be able to continue nominating individuals for appointment.
The government will probably oppose the amendment.
The House of Lords Act 1999 removed the entitlement of most of the hereditary Peers to sit and vote in the House of Lords and of the 91 hereditary Peers who retain their seat in the Lords, 75 were elected by their fellow hereditary Peers.
The removal of the remaining 91 hereditary peers will be likely to result in 91 life peers being appointed if that happens to suit the Prime Minister.
9 July 2025
10 July 2025
Amendment 23 was debated in the House of Lords on 9 July - see Hansard. Lord Burns withdrew the amendment. It remains to be seen whether any progress is made to limiting the size of the House. Meanwhile, Prime Ministerial patronage will continue.
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