The House of Lords (Hereditary Peers) Bill is a Bill of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. The Bill, if passed, will entirely remove hereditary peers from voting functions within the House of Lords.
| Act of Parliament | |
 | |
| Long title | A Bill to Remove the remaining connection between hereditary peerage and membership of the House of Lords; to abolish the jurisdiction of the House of Lords in relation to claims to hereditary peerages; and for connected purposes. |
|---|---|
| Introduced by | Nick Thomas-Symonds, Minister for the Constitution and European Union Relations (Commons) |
| Territorial extent | United Kingdom |
| Other legislation | |
| Amends | Peerage Act 1963 House of Lords Act 1999 Constitutional Reform and Governance Act 2010 House of Lords Reform Act 2014 |
Status: Not passed | |
| History of passage through Parliament | |
| Text of statute as originally enacted | |
House of Lords reform was included within the Labour Party's manifesto for the 2024 United Kingdom general election, which included an age cap on peers and the removal of hereditary peers entirely.[1]
Background
editReform of the House of Lords has been a part of successive government policies since the early 19th century,[2] however the last major change was made in the House of Lords Act 1999 under the First Blair ministry, which provided that:[2]
No-one shall be a member of the House of Lords by virtue of a hereditary peerage.
— House of Lords Act 1999, Section 1, Exclusion of hereditary peers.
The Act then provided several exceptions, allowing 90 hereditary peers, as well as the Lord Great Chamberlain and Earl Marshal, to remain in the House of Lords pending further reform. The Act originally eliminated hereditary peers entirely, however the exceptions made (section 2 of the Act) were as part of a compromise reached between the House of Lords and the House of Commons during the passage of the Bill.[3]
Provisions
editThe Bill, if passed, will eliminate all 92 of the hereditary peers from the House of Lords; the Earl Marshal and Lord Great Chamberlain will continue their ceremonial functions in the House of Lords, but will cease to be members.[3] The Bill would effect this by repealing section 2 of the House of Lords Act 1999, removing the exceptions for hereditary peers remaining in the House of Lords.[4]
Criticism
editThe Bill has been criticised by hereditary peer Lord Strathclyde, who said that to reduce the size of the House of Lords, peers who do not often attend debates should be removed instead of hereditary peers, some of whom were very active.[5] Minister for the Constitution and European Union Relations, Nick Thomas-Symonds, said that "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".
University College London's constitution unit said that the only other country in the world with a hereditary element in the legislature was the hereditary chiefs in Lesotho's Senate,[6][7] though other countries have hereditary elements as well, such as the 18 chiefs in Zimbabwe's Senate, Tonga's 9 internally elected nobles in the Legislative Assembly, and Samoa's requirement to hold matai status to stand for election to the Fono.[8][9][10][11]
Others have said that other elements of House of Lords reform should be prioritised, such as the removal of the automatic right of Bishops to sit in the House,[12] as the only other country in the world in which clerics are automatically granted a seat in the legislature is Iran.[13]
Stages
editThe Bill was introduced formally by Pat McFadden, receiving its first reading on Thursday, 5 September 2024,[14] with its second reading on 15 October 2024. The Bill then proceeded into committee stage, and due to its constitutional significance the Bill is subject to a Committee of the Whole House.
Future reform
editThe Bill is part of a wider plan by Labour to replace the House of Lords with an “alternative second chamber” in the long term.[15] Part of Labour's plans include eventually replacing the House of Lords with an entirely elected Assembly of Nations and Regions,[16][17] however it has been stated that this would take more than a single term to accomplish.[17]
See also
editReferences
edit- ^ Mason, Rowena (13 June 2024). "Change and growth: five key takeaways from the Labour manifesto launch". The Guardian. ISSN 0261-3077. Retrieved 7 September 2024.
- ^ a b "House of Lords reform". Parliament of the United Kingdom. Retrieved 10 September 2024.
- ^ a b House of Lords (Hereditary Peers) Bill: Explanatory Notes (PDF). Parliament of the United Kingdom. 5 September 2024. Retrieved 10 September 2024.
- ^ House of Lords (Hereditary Peers) Bill (PDF). Parliament of the United Kingdom. 5 September 2024. Retrieved 10 September 2024.
- ^ Fisher, Lucy. "Senior Tory lord hits out at bill to abolish hereditary peers in UK". www.ft.com. Retrieved 8 September 2024.
- ^ Courea, Eleni (4 September 2024). "Ministers introduce plans to remove all hereditary peers from Lords". The Guardian. ISSN 0261-3077. Retrieved 8 September 2024.
- ^ Hazell, Robert (January 2002). Commentary on the White Paper: The House of Lords - Completing the Reform (PDF). Univeristy College London.
- ^ "Nobles nobbled: Tonga gets a common man for prime minister". The Economist. 11 January 2015.
- ^ North, David (16 February 2015). "American Samoa's Government: "Don't Let Our People Be U.S. Citizens"". Center for Immigration Studies.
- ^ Hills, Rodney C. (December 1993). "Predicaments in Polynesia: Culture and Constitutions in Western Samoa and Tonga". Pacific Studies. 16 (4).
- ^ Russell, Meg (March 2023). House of Lords reform: navigating the obstacles (PDF). Institute for Government / Cambridge Bennett Institute for Public Policy.
- ^ "Calls to remove bishops from House of Lords as MPs support upper chamber reforms". www.expressandstar.com. 15 October 2024. Retrieved 15 October 2024.
- ^ Cooke, Millie (15 October 2024). "Bishops' seats in House of Lords must be abolished, MPs tell Starmer". The Independent. Retrieved 15 October 2024.
- ^ https://bills.parliament.uk/bills/3755/stages/18940
- ^ Singh, Arj (6 September 2024). "Labour will abolish the Lords, minister confirms - but it will take 10 years". inews.co.uk. Retrieved 7 September 2024.
- ^ "A New Britain: Renewing our Democracy and Rebuilding our Economy". The Labour Party. 5 December 2022. Retrieved 8 September 2024.
- ^ a b "What is the House of Lords, how does it work and how is it changing?". BBC News. 7 December 2022. Retrieved 8 September 2024.