The Government remains committed to scrapping the House of Lords but it may take 10 years, a senior Cabinet minister has signalled.
Writing for i, the Minister for the Cabinet Office Nick Thomas-Symonds said it “remains” Labour’s commitment to replace the Lords with an “alternative second chamber” in “the long term”, while leaving the Upper House’s “traditions” intact.
i understands that ministers view the replacement of the Lords as a constitutional overhaul that is likely to take two terms in Government and the best part of a decade.
The Cabinet Office Minister spoke after introducing legislation to eject all remaining hereditary peers, who sit in the Lords by birthright, from the upper chamber.
Mr Thomas-Symonds said the House of Lords (Hereditary Peers) Bill was essential because young people from every part of the UK must “have the same chance as anyone else of making the laws of the land”.
He added that “people should not be voting on our laws in Parliament by an accident of birth” and that the “hereditary principle in law making” is “out of step with modern Britain”.
The Government also remains committed in the medium term to forcing members of the Lords to retire at 80 years old.
Campaigners welcomed the bill, and Mr Thomas-Symonds’s commitment to replacing the Lords, but insisted that any new second chamber must be smaller, as it is second in size of legislative chambers only to China’s National People’s Congress, and be made up of elected members.
Experts meanwhile suggested the scrapping of hereditary peers was an easy first step but that more wholesale reform may “prove difficult” amid resistance from MPs, peers and ministers.
Meg Russell, director of the Constitution Unit at UCL (University College London) said: “Long-term Lords reform has defied previous Labour governments, including those of Harold Wilson and Tony Blair. Nick Clegg’s proposals were similarly scuppered in the coalition years.
“While it’s easy to agree that the House of Lords needs change, there’s far less agreement on what should replace it.
“MPs and ministers tend to fear a newly assertive elected chamber challenging the Commons, while voters rather like the expert and nonpartisan nature of the Lords.
“This Government seems serious about consulting on longer-term reform, but experience suggests agreement may prove difficult.
“That makes it really important to act on the other promises in the manifesto, particularly tackling the chamber’s size and tightening up the appointments process.”
Hannah White, director of the Institute for Government, said: “Labour has talked big on Lords reform but – in lieu of comprehensive change which would be politically tricky and time consuming – has reached for what ought to be the easiest and most publicly marketable first step.
“Asking the upper chamber to vote for its own reform has never proven easy, but the non-hereditary peers may calculate that dispensing with the most egregiously anachronistic feature of their house will dissipate the new Government’s appetite for broader reforms for a while at least.”
Darren Hughes, chief executive of the Electoral Reform Society, added: “The Government’s legislation to remove the 92, all-male hereditary peers is an essential and much-needed reform to the Lords, as law-making by birthright has no place in a modern democracy.
“We welcome the Minister’s commitment to ultimately replace the current unelected Lords with a more representative upper chamber.
“The undemocratic and unrestrained way that new peers are created means that at 800 members the Lords is the second largest legislative chamber in the world, after China’s National People’s Congress. This is not sustainable.
“The best way to make the Lords more representative of the people of this country, is to have its member chosen by, and accountable to, the people of this country.
“This is why these reforms must culminate in the Lords becoming a smaller, elected chamber with a set number of members that are chosen democratically, and not by whoever happens to sit in 10 Downing Street.”
The Conservative Party has been contacted for comment
‘Landmark reform’ vital to modernise Parliament
Within the first 100 days of office this Government has begun the biggest reform of the UK’s Parliament in a quarter of a century by starting the removal of the remaining hereditary peers from the House of Lords.
This is a landmark reform to our constitution. 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.
I want young people growing up in my constituency – and every part of the country – to feel that they have the same chance as anyone else of making the laws of the land.
That is why the hereditary principle in law making has lasted for too long and is out of step with modern Britain.
Reform of the upper chamber has taken place gradually over the previous century ever since the constitutional crisis of 1911. Reinvigorating this process is a priority for this Government, which is committed to being a Government of public service.
The House of Lords plays an important role in our constitutional system; it holds the Government to account and scrutinises legislation.
Its members, coming from many different walks of life, with their varied expertise are well placed to do this. However, the House of Lords is one of the largest legislative bodies in the world and needs to be reformed.
The last Labour Government made significant progress with the House of Lords Act of 1999 which removed more than 600 peers from the upper chamber.
However, 92 hereditary seats were retained, making the House of Lords an international outlier, one of just two chambers in the world that still reserves seats for members on a hereditary basis.
Of course, while many hereditary peers in the House of Lords make valuable individual contributions to the chamber, collectively they owe their place in Parliament to an accident of birth. This Government came to office in July with a mandate to end this arrangement.
That is why I was proud to introduce a Bill to the House of Commons this week that will remove the remaining hereditary peers from our second chamber, as part of our clear manifesto commitment to reform the House of Lords.
This change will leave intact the Lords’ ability to hold the Government to account and scrutinise legislation, its traditions, and its place in the parliamentary system.
And our work in the long term to replace it with an alternative second chamber that is more representative of the people it serves remains part of our commitment for a fairer and more modern Britain.
Nick Thomas-Symonds
Minister for the Cabinet Office
