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House of Lords (Hereditary Peers) Bill

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House of Lords (Hereditary Peers) Bill
Act of Parliament
Parliament of the United Kingdom
Long titleA 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 byPat McFadden, Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster (Commons)
Baroness Smith of Basildon, Lord Keeper of the Privy Seal (Lords)
Territorial extent United Kingdom
Other legislation
AmendsPeerage Act 1963
House of Lords Act 1999
Constitutional Reform and Governance Act 2010
House of Lords Reform Act 2014
Status: Pending
History of passage through Parliament
Text of statute as originally enacted

The House of Lords (Hereditary Peers) Bill is a Bill of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. The Bill, if passed, will entirely remove the 92 hereditary peers from sitting and voting functions within the House of Lords.

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

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Further information: History of reform of the House of Lords

Reform of the House of Lords has been a part of successive government policies since the early 19th century.[2] 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 the 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

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The 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 to carry out their ceremonial functions in the House of Lords, but will cease to be members of it.[3] The 26 Lords Spiritual and a variable number of life peers would remain in the House. The sections of the Bill as introduced are listed below:[4]

  • Section 1: Exclusion of remaining hereditary peers. This section repeals section 2 of the House of Lords Act 1999, removing the exceptions for hereditary peers remaining in the House of Lords.
  • Section 2: Claims to hereditary peerages. This section removes the House of Lords' jurisdiction over claims to hereditary peerages.
  • Section 3: Consequential amendments
  • Section 4: Extent and commencement
  • Section 5: Short title

Criticism

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The 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 Legislative Assembly of Samoa.[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 of the Church of England to sit in the House of Lords as Lords Spiritual,[12] pointing out that the only other sovereign nation in which clerics are automatically granted a seat in the legislature is Iran.[13] Baroness Harman subsequently introduced an amendment that would mandate the government to introduce proposals to remove the right of 26 Church of England bishops to sit in the Lords ex officio as Lords Spiritual, in line with Labour's manifesto commitment to consult on wider reforms of the upper chamber.[14] She withdrew her amendment before debate.[15] Lord Birt also introduced an amendment to require proposals to remove the Lords Spiritual, but he withdrew the amendment before debate.[16] Viscount Hailsham introduced an amendment to remove the Lords Spiritual by phasing them out through retirement.[17] He did not move his amendment at the committee stage debate.[18]

Stages

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The Bill was introduced formally by Pat McFadden, receiving its first reading on Thursday, 5 September 2024,[19] with its second reading on 15 October.

The Bill then proceeded into committee stage, where, due to its constitutional significance, it was subject to a Committee of the Whole House. The Committee, and then the Bill's third reading, took place on 12 November 2024 with the Bill passing the House of Commons by a vote of 435–73.[19][20]

Votes on committee amendments in the House of Commons
Amendment Ayes Noes Result
A25 Would delay commencement until a report by a joint committee of the Commons and the Lords 98 376 Not accepted
NC1 Exclusion of bishops 41 378 Not accepted
NC7 Duty to take forward proposals for democratic mandate for House of Lords 93 355 Not accepted
NC20 Purpose of the Bill 98 375 Not accepted

The Bill was introduced into the House of Lords by Baroness Smith of Basildon. It received its first reading in the House of Lords on 13 November, and its second reading in the House of Lords on 11 December. The Bill was debated in five sittings at its committee stage in the House of Lords, on 3, 10, 12, and 25 March, and 1 April 2025.[19]

Future reform

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The Labour Party manifesto of 2024 included a commitment to introduce an age limit: "At the end of the Parliament in which a member reaches 80 years of age, they will be required to retire from the House of Lords." A Labour government would ensure all peers met high standards, would introduce a new participation requirement, and would strengthen the circumstances in which disgraced members could be removed. It would also reform the appointments process, to ensure quality, and would seek to improve the national and regional balance of the chamber.[21]

There is some support in the House of Lords for a measure to strengthen the powers of the House of Lords Appointments Commission.[22]

The Labour Party also has a longer term plan (beyond 2029) to replace the House of Lords with an "alternative second chamber".[23][21]

See also

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References

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  1. ^ 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.
  2. ^ a b "House of Lords reform". Parliament of the United Kingdom. Retrieved 10 September 2024.
  3. ^ a b House of Lords (Hereditary Peers) Bill: Explanatory Notes (PDF). Parliament of the United Kingdom. 5 September 2024. Retrieved 10 September 2024.
  4. ^ House of Lords (Hereditary Peers) Bill (PDF). Parliament of the United Kingdom. 5 September 2024. Retrieved 10 September 2024.
  5. ^ Fisher, Lucy (5 September 2024). "Senior Tory lord hits out at bill to abolish hereditary peers in UK". www.ft.com. Retrieved 8 September 2024.
  6. ^ Courea, Eleni (4 September 2024). "Ministers introduce plans to remove all hereditary peers from Lords". The Guardian. ISSN 0261-3077. Retrieved 8 September 2024.
  7. ^ Hazell, Robert (January 2002). Commentary on the White Paper: The House of Lords - Completing the Reform (PDF). University College London.
  8. ^ "Nobles nobbled: Tonga gets a common man for prime minister". The Economist. 11 January 2015.
  9. ^ North, David (16 February 2015). "American Samoa's Government: "Don't Let Our People Be U.S. Citizens"". Center for Immigration Studies.
  10. ^ Hills, Rodney C. (December 1993). "Predicaments in Polynesia: Culture and Constitutions in Western Samoa and Tonga". Pacific Studies. 16 (4).
  11. ^ Russell, Meg (March 2023). House of Lords reform: navigating the obstacles (PDF). Institute for Government / Cambridge Bennett Institute for Public Policy.
  12. ^ "Calls to remove bishops from House of Lords as MPs support upper chamber reforms". www.expressandstar.com. 15 October 2024. Retrieved 15 October 2024.
  13. ^ Cooke, Millie (15 October 2024). "Bishops' seats in House of Lords must be abolished, MPs tell Starmer". The Independent. Retrieved 15 October 2024.
  14. ^ "Harriet Harman introduces amendment to remove bishops from the Lords". Humanists UK. 21 January 2025. Retrieved 21 January 2025.
  15. ^ "Baroness Harman's amendment". UK Parliament. Retrieved 13 March 2025.
  16. ^ "Lord Birt's amendment, Clause 1". UK Parliament. Retrieved 13 March 2025.
  17. ^ "Viscount Hailsham's amendment, After Clause 1". UK Parliament. Retrieved 13 March 2025.
  18. ^ "Hansard: House of Lords (Hereditary Peers) Bill". UK Parliament. 12 March 2025. Retrieved 13 March 2025.
  19. ^ a b c "House of Lords (Hereditary Peers) Bill Stages - Parliamentary Bills - UK Parliament". bills.parliament.uk. Retrieved 4 March 2025.
  20. ^ "House of Lords: MPs back ending all hereditary peers". BBC News. 12 November 2024. Retrieved 13 November 2024.
  21. ^ a b "Serving the country". Labour Party. Retrieved 10 February 2025., p. 108
  22. ^ "Hansard – House of Lords Peerage Nominations Bill [HL]". UK Parliament. 14 March 2025. Retrieved 30 March 2025.
  23. ^ 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.
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