Bid to
crack down on shirkers in UK’s House of Lords
Stricter
attendance rules could result in 100 members being booted out of the Lords.
Currently,
members of the Lords — known as peers — are only required to turn up at least
once during a parliamentary session. |
Angela Smith, the leader of the Lords, known as
Baroness Smith of Basildon, said recently she would “welcome” suggestions on
how to ensure peers participate effectively.
December 9,
2024 4:01 am CET
By Esther
Webber
LONDON — The
British government is facing mounting calls to exclude members of the House of
Lords who rarely attend or take part in debates.
Members of
the U.K.’s upper chamber will get their first chance to debate the Hereditary
Peerages Bill on Wednesday.
The bill
would end the current arrangement under which 92 people are eligible to sit in
the Lords as a result of their inherited titles. It’s part of a wider program
of political reform by Britain’s recently-elected Labour government.
More than
100 members have signed up to speak in the mammoth debate, which will set out
battle lines for amending the bill as it makes its way into law.
One proposal
which is already gathering cross-party momentum is the introduction of stricter
attendance requirements — meaning peers would need to show up for 10 percent of
sitting days or face expulsion.
Currently,
members of the Lords — known as peers — are only required to turn up at least
once during a parliamentary session. There have been many reports over the
years of peers claiming attendance expenses while rarely or never taking part
in parliamentary business.
Charles Hay,
known as the Earl of Kinnoull, who leads the crossbench peers’ group, told
POLITICO: “It’s very annoying for all of us who work hard at the thing to have
some people who turn up once a year and not actually do any of what the writ of
summons says they should do.”
He estimates
that enforcing such a rule could reduce the size of the unwieldy and
ever-growing upper chamber by around 100 peers.
Keeping it
tight
Ministers
appear keen to constrain the bill to its headline purpose, as demonstrated by
the decision to ditch plans for a wholly elected House and mandatory retirement
at 80.
A senior
government official said: “It’s quite a short and tightly drafted bill, and
focused on completing what was started 25 years ago” — a reference to Lords reform under Tony Blair,
who expelled most hereditary peers from parliament.
However,
ministers are likely to face significant pressure on the question of
participation because a clampdown enjoys cross-party support and featured in
the Labour Party’s election manifesto.
Angela
Smith, the leader of the Lords, known as Baroness Smith of Basildon, said
recently she would “welcome” suggestions on how to ensure peers participate
effectively.
Angela
Smith, the leader of the Lords, known as Baroness Smith of Basildon, said
recently she would “welcome” suggestions on how to ensure peers participate
effectively.
The popular
perception of peers as cronies who draw expenses while doing very little is
seen by Keir Starmer and those around him as contributing to a wider sense of
disillusionment with politics, according to one Cabinet minister.
The bill
will face a raft of other amendments with varying degrees of likelihood of
success.
Hay also
predicted there would be a concerted push to legislate for compulsory
retirement at 80, rising to 85 for those who have served less than ten years.
Harriet
Harman, a former long-serving MP and minister recently elevated to the Lords,
confirmed to POLITICO she would be tabling an amendment to remove the 26 places
in the upper chamber currently reserved for Church of England bishops.
“There’s
nobody who can justify, in 2024, people coming into our legislature in order to
scrutinize legislation with their admission being based on ordination in the
Church of England,” she said.
Some other
Labour backbenchers want to see the body that approves appointments to the
Lords put on a statutory footing, while Conservative peers are proposing that
the end to hereditary peerages should be delayed to the next election.
Harriet
Harman, a former long-serving MP and minister recently elevated to the Lords,
confirmed to POLITICO she would be tabling an amendment to remove the 26 places
in the upper chamber currently reserved for Church of England bishops.
At the same
time, Conservatives in the Lords have been accused of obstructing government
legislation while the threat of losing 46 of their number — who are hereditary
peers — hangs over them.
Lords
insiders highlighted that the government’s Football Governance Bill was being
subjected to an extra-long committee stage of six days, usually reserved for
major pieces of institutional or constitutional reform.
The same
government official quoted above said it was “clearly an attempt by some
opposition peers to talk long on a couple of other bills of late.”
One
crossbench peer granted anonymity described it as “silly antics” but warned it
could have a serious impact. “It’s an incredibly heavy legislative program, and
here we are six months into the session, and we haven’t got to any of the meaty
ones [bills] yet.”
The
Conservative Party was contacted for comment.
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