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Lords members will debate the Hereditary Peers Bill at second reading on Wednesday (11/12) after MPs voted in favour of the government proposals by 435 votes to 73 in the Commons.
Labour pledged to “modernise” the Lords in its election manifesto by introducing a mandatory retirement age of 80 for members of the upper house and revoke a 700-year-old right of all hereditary peers to sit in the Lords.
Despite receiving clear passage through the Common, the move to remove hereditary peers is expected to face stiff opposition in the upper chamber on Wednesday.
So far 92 peers have signed up to speak in the debate, of whom 51 are Conservatives. This includes 24 hereditary peers.
According to reports in The Times, one hereditary peer even asked officials if there would be redundancy pay.
Other efforts by peers to urge the government to shelve the bill include engaging in low-level “guerrilla warfare” by de-grouping amendments on other bills to filibuster and hinder the government in delivering its legislative agenda.
If this bill manages to move through the Lords relatively unimpeded, it could embolden Labour to go further in reforming the house.
Sir Keir Starmer has pledged to abolish the parliamentary chamber in its present form altogether, replacing it with an elected “assembly of the nations and regions”.
The government has been taking a staged approach to reform, and will likely bring in mandatory retirement at age 80 after hereditary peers are removed.
There are currently 805 peers, making the House of Lords the second-largest parliamentary chamber in the world.
Only China’s National People’s Congress is bigger.
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