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Louise Thomas
Editor
Labour will abolish the 92 remaining hereditary peers within months under legislation to be tabled on Thursday.
The government committed before the general election to abolish the hereditary peerages as part of its promised House of Lords reforms.
After abolishing hereditary peerages, Sir Keir Starmer is expected to impose an upper age limit of 80 for members of the upper chamber.
Minister for the constitution Nick Thomas-Symonds said the removal of hereditary peerages is “a landmark reform”.
He added: “The hereditary principle in law making has lasted for too long and is out of step with modern Britain. 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.
“This Bill shows this government’s commitment to delivering on our manifesto and is an important part of putting politics in the service of working people.”
Officials have previously described the continued presence of hereditary peers in the Lords as “outdated and indefensible”, with reform “long overdue and essential”.
But Conservative critics have called the move a “vendetta” and “political vandalism”.
Leader of the House of Lords Baroness Smith of Basildon said the government recognised the “valuable contributions many hereditary peers have made to parliament”.
But she added: “It is right that this reform is being brought forward now – completing work we began 25 years ago.”
Under the last Labour government, 667 hereditary peers were removed from the Lords in 1999, leaving 92 remaining. Those who have died have since been replaced in by-elections, voted on by other hereditary peers.
Around half of the remaining hereditary peers are Conservatives, a handful are Labour and Liberal Democrat members and the remainder are independent.
Baroness Smith said: “Removing the hereditary principle from the Lords will deliver on a specific manifesto commitment. It will also help deliver on our commitment to reduce the size of the second chamber, as we bring forward further reforms.”
“Following its First Reading in the House of Commons today, the Bill is expected to progress to a Second Reading later this autumn.”
Current hereditary peers in the House of Lords include Lord Attlee, grandson of the Labour prime minister Clement Attlee; the Duke of Wellington, whose great-great-great-grandfather defeated Napoleon at Waterloo in 1815; and Viscount Stansgate, whose father Tony Benn renounced his peerage to sit in the Commons, where he became a prominent figure on the left of the Labour Party.
The total also includes two peers, the Earl Marshal and Lord Great Chamberlain, whose right to sit and vote in the House of Lords will be removed, however they will retain the constitutional duties they perform on state occasions.
Labour remains formally committed to abolishing the House of Lords and replacing it with an elected chamber, but the party’s 2024 manifesto promised only to “consult on proposals”.
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