LONDON – Britain’s new Labor government faced fury in the House of Lords on Thursday Unveiling plans To ax the hereditary members of the second chamber, who are there by birthright.
The new law will prevent the remaining 92 hereditary peers, who inherited their titles from their parents, from sitting and voting in the Upper House – a bid to fix what Labor sees as a major democratic anachronism.
Tom Strathclyde, a Conservative hereditary peer who sits in the Lords as Baron Strathclyde, said: “This is a high-handed, sloppy, political act that alienates some of our most serious, senior and experienced peers.” The former cabinet minister criticized Labour’s lack of consultation with opposition parties.
“Aren’t there any proposals about removing from the house those colleagues who have shown active commitment for many years rather than coming very rarely?” he asked in a session of the House of Lords on Thursday.
The move seeks to complete action taken by the last Labor government in 1999. Tony Blair’s administration scrapped the 700-year right of hereditary peers to sit in the Lords, but he struck a deal to let the 92 peers keep their seats in the upper chamber.
The remaining 800-or-so hereditary peers around Britain who missed out on seats will now jostle for limited places when one of their current number dies or retires.
Britain’s current hereditary members are all men. There are 42 Tory hereditary peers and 28 crossbenchers – but only two Labor hereditary peers.
Opponents of the legislation said Blair’s administration was more adept at reaching compromises.
But, speaking for the government, Angela Smith, leader of the House of Lords, said: “There was no agreement during the selection process. [1999] The Bill … further discussions took place and provisional arrangements were made on a transitional basis.
In a fig letter to the opposition, the government will allow parties to reintroduce former hereditary peers as “life peers”, whose title dies with them. Proposals requiring all members of the House of Lords to retire at the end of the parliamentary session in which they reach the age of 80 have not been included as consultation continues.
Tory life peer Michael Forsyth, who is chairman of the Association of Conservative Peers, argued that the proposals were designed to reduce scrutiny. “This is a blatant attempt to neutralize opposition in this House,” he said. “What the government is doing is undermining our ability to carry out our duties effectively.”
Shadow Lords leader Nicholas True did not offer an official position on Labour’s shake-up from the opposition Conservatives – currently looking for a new leader. He asserted that the best way to achieve constitutional change was “through consensus and on the basis of divisive and partisan legislation”.
Labour’s plans are a downgrade from the plan it formulated – and then abandoned – in opposition to it Abolish the House of Lords completely and replace it with another elected chamber.
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