House of Lords (Hereditary Peers) Bill

Proposed law of the United Kingdom

United Kingdom legislation

House of Lords (Hereditary Peers) BillAct of Parliament

Parliament of the United Kingdom

Long title| A Bill to remove any remaining connection between the hereditary peerage and membership of the House of Lords; to abolish the jurisdiction of the House of Lords in relation to claims to hereditary peerages; and for connected purposes.
Introduced by| Pat McFadden,
Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster (Commons)
Baroness Smith of Basildon,
Lord Keeper of the Privy Seal (Lords)
Territorial extent | United Kingdom
Other legislation
Amends| Peerage Act 1963
House of Lords Act 1999
Constitutional Reform and Governance Act 2010
House of Lords Reform Act 2014

Status: Pending

History of passage through Parliament
Text of statute as originally enacted
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The House of Lords (Hereditary Peers) Bill, sometimes referred to as the Hereditary Peers Bill,[1] is a bill in the Parliament of the United Kingdom. The bill, if passed, will remove all remaining hereditary peers from the House of Lords and future involvement in British parliamentary processes.

House of Lords reform was proposed at the 2024 United Kingdom general election in the Labour Party manifesto, which included an age cap for life peers and the removal of hereditary peers entirely.[2]

## Background

[edit]

Further information: History of reform of the House of Lords

Reform of the House of Lords has been a part of successive Government policy since the early 19th century.[3] The last major change was made in the House of Lords Act 1999 under the first Blair ministry, which provided that:[3]

> No-one shall be a member of the House of Lords by virtue of a hereditary peerage.

> — House of Lords Act 1999, Section 1, Exclusion of hereditary peers.

The Act then provided several exceptions, allowing 90 hereditary peers as well as the Lord Great Chamberlain and the Earl Marshal, to remain in the House of Lords pending further reform. The Act originally intended to eject hereditary peers in their entirety, however the exceptions made (Section 2 of the Act) were reached as part of a compromise agreed between the Houses of Lords and the Commons during the Bill's passage through Parliament.[4]

## Provisions

[edit]

The Bill, if passed, will eject all remaining 92 hereditary peers from Parliament, although the Earl Marshal and Lord Great Chamberlain will continue to carry out their ceremonial duties, no longer being automatically entitled to a seat in the chamber unless they are created life peers.[5] The 26 Lords Spiritual and a variable number of life peers will remain sitting in the upper house. The sections of the bill as introduced are listed below:[6]

* Section 1: Exclusion of remaining hereditary peers. This section repeals section 2 of the House of Lords Act 1999, removing the exceptions for hereditary peers remaining in the House of Lords;
* Section 2: Claims to hereditary peerages. This section removes the House of Lords' jurisdiction over claims to hereditary peerages;
* Section 3: Consequential amendments;
* Section 4: Extent and commencement;
* Section 5: Short title.

## Criticism

[edit]

The bill has received criticism including from former Leader of the House of Lords and hereditary peer Lord Strathclyde, who suggested that so as to reduce the size of the House of Lords, peers who infrequently attend debates ought to be removed instead of the remaining hereditary peers, who have been very active.[7] Minister of State for the Constitution and European Union Relations, Nick Thomas-Symonds, said that "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".

University College London Constitution Unit asserted that the only other country with a hereditary element in its legislature were the hereditary chiefs in Lesotho's Senate,[8][9] though other countries have hereditary elements as well, such as the 18 chiefs in Zimbabwe's Senate, Tonga's 9 internally elected nobles in the Legislative Assembly, and Samoa's requirement to hold matai status to stand for election to the Legislative Assembly of Samoa.[10][11][12][13]

Numerous members of the House of Lords have said that other elements of Lords reform should be prioritised, such as the removal of the automatic right of Church of England bishops to sit in the upper house as Lords Spiritual,[14] pointing out that the only other sovereign nation where clerics are automatically granted a legislative seat is Iran.[15] Baroness Harman subsequently introduced an amendment that would mandate the government to introduce proposals to remove the right of the 26 Church of England bishops who sit ex officio as Lords Spiritual, in line with Labour's election manifesto commitment to consult on wider reforms of the upper house;[16] she withdrew her amendment before debate.[17] Lord Birt also introduced an amendment to require proposals to remove the Lords Spiritual, but he withdrew his amendment before debate.[18] Viscount Hailsham introduced an amendment to remove the Lords Spiritual by phasing them out through retirement;[19] Lord Hailsham did not move his amendment at the committee stage debate.[20]

## Stages

[edit]

The bill was formally introduced to Parliament by Pat McFadden, receiving its first reading on Thursday, 5 September 2024,[21] with its second reading on 15 October.

The bill then proceeded to Committee Stage, where, due to its constitutional significance, it became subject to a Committee of the Whole House. The committee, and then the bill's third reading, took place on 12 November 2024 with the bill passing the House of Commons by a vote of 435–73.[21][22]

Votes on committee amendments in the House of Commons  Amendment  | Ayes  | Noes  | Result

|
|
|

A25  | Would delay commencement until a report by a joint committee of the Commons and the Lords  | 98  | 376  | Not accepted
NC1  | Exclusion of bishops  | 41  | 378  | Not accepted
NC7  | Duty to take forward proposals for democratic mandate for House of Lords  | 93  | 355  | Not accepted
NC20  | Purpose of the bill  | 98  | 375  | Not accepted

The bill was then introduced by Leader of the House of Lords Baroness Smith of Basildon, receiving its first reading in the House of Lords on 13 November, and its second reading on 11 December.[21] The bill was debated in five sittings at its Lords committee stage, on 3, 10, 12, and 25 March, and 1 April 2025,[23] before proceeding to the report stage which was held in two sittings on 2 and 9 July 2025.[24]

Votes on report stage amendments in the House of Lords  Amendment[25][26] | Content  | Not content  | Result[27][28][29][30]

|
|
|

2  | Abolition of by-elections and allowing the current excepted hereditary peers to remain in the House of Lords  | 280  | 243  | Accepted
4  | Duty to take forward proposals for introducing directly elected members in the House of Lords  | 84  | 263  | Not accepted
5  | Life peerages not to be conferred against recommendation of the House of Lords Appointments Commission  | 55  | 234  | Not accepted
13A  | Requirement of all ministers in the House of Lords to be paid, except those appointed before the requirement comes into effect  | 284  | 239  | Accepted
17  | Life peerages to be created with or without a seat in the House of Lords  | 265  | 247  | Accepted
23A  | Duty to implement recommendations of the select committee on reforming the House of Lords  | 139  | 158  | Not accepted
27  | Duty to undertake a consultation on applying gender equality to determining hereditary peerage claims  | 11  | 126  | Not accepted

## Future reform

[edit]

The 2024 Labour Party manifesto provided a commitment to introduce an age limit for members of the House of Lords: "At the end of the Parliament in which a member reaches 80 years of age, they will be required to retire from the House of Lords. A Labour government would ensure all peers met high standards, would introduce a new participation requirement, and would strengthen the circumstances in which disgraced members could be removed. It would also reform the appointments process, to ensure quality, and would seek to improve the national and regional balance of the chamber."[31]

There is some support amongst peers for a measure to strengthen the powers of the House of Lords Appointments Commission.[32]

The Labour Party also conceives a longer term plan (beyond 2029) to replace the upper house with an "alternative" second chamber.[31][33]

## See also

[edit]

* Constitutional reform in the United Kingdom
* Peerages in the United Kingdom
* Roll of the Peerage

## References

[edit]

1. ^ Walsh, Simon (19 March 2025). "Peers reject cutting number of Bishops in the Lords from 26 to five". Church Times. Archived from the original on 19 March 2025. Retrieved 4 May 2025.
2. ^ Mason, Rowena (13 June 2024). "Change and growth: five key takeaways from the Labour manifesto launch". The Guardian. ISSN 0261-3077. Archived from the original on 28 May 2025. Retrieved 7 September 2024.
3. ^ a b "House of Lords reform". Parliament of the United Kingdom. Retrieved 10 September 2024.
4. ^ House of Lords (Hereditary Peers) Bill: Explanatory Notes (PDF). Parliament of the United Kingdom. 5 September 2024. Retrieved 10 September 2024.
5. ^ "Government brings in Bill to remove 'outdated' hereditary peers from Lords". ITV News. 5 September 2024. Archived from the original on 8 November 2024. Retrieved 12 June 2025.
6. ^ House of Lords (Hereditary Peers) Bill (PDF). Parliament of the United Kingdom. 5 September 2024. Retrieved 10 September 2024.
7. ^ Fisher, Lucy (5 September 2024). "Senior Tory Lord hits out at Bill to abolish hereditary peers in UK". Financial Times. Archived from the original on 5 September 2024. Retrieved 8 September 2024.
8. ^ Courea, Eleni (4 September 2024). "Ministers introduce plans to remove all hereditary peers from Lords". The Guardian. ISSN 0261-3077. Archived from the original on 5 May 2025. Retrieved 8 September 2024.
9. ^ Hazell, Robert (January 2002). Commentary on the White Paper: The House of Lords - Completing the Reform (PDF). University College London. Archived (PDF) from the original on 23 March 2025.
10. ^ "Nobles nobbled: Tonga gets a common man for Prime Minister". The Economist. 11 January 2015.
11. ^ North, David (16 February 2015). "American Samoa's Government: "Don't Let Our People Be U.S. Citizens"". Center for Immigration Studies. Archived from the original on 19 February 2015. Retrieved 12 June 2025.
12. ^ Hills, Rodney C. (December 1993). "Predicaments in Polynesia: Culture and Constitutions in Western Samoa and Tonga". Pacific Studies. 16 (4).
13. ^ Russell, Meg (March 2023). House of Lords reform: navigating the obstacles (PDF). Institute for Government / Cambridge Bennett Institute for Public Policy. Archived (PDF) from the original on 7 March 2023. Retrieved 12 June 2025.
14. ^ "Calls to remove Bishops from House of Lords as MPs support upper chamber reforms". Express and Star. 15 October 2024. Archived from the original on 12 April 2025. Retrieved 15 October 2024.
15. ^ Cooke, Millie (15 October 2024). "Bishops' seats in House of Lords must be abolished, MPs tell Starmer". The Independent. Archived from the original on 22 February 2025. Retrieved 15 October 2024.
16. ^ "Harriet Harman introduces amendment to remove Bishops from the Lords". Humanists UK. 21 January 2025. Retrieved 21 January 2025.
17. ^ "Baroness Harman's amendment". UK Parliament. Retrieved 13 March 2025.
18. ^ "Lord Birt's amendment, Clause 1". UK Parliament. Retrieved 13 March 2025.
19. ^ "Viscount Hailsham's amendment, after Clause 1". UK Parliament. Retrieved 13 March 2025.
20. ^ "Hansard: House of Lords (Hereditary Peers) Bill". UK Parliament. 12 March 2025. Retrieved 13 March 2025.
21. ^ a b c "House of Lords (Hereditary Peers) Bill Stages - Parliamentary Bills - UK Parliament". bills.parliament.uk. Retrieved 4 March 2025.
22. ^ "House of Lords: MPs back ending all hereditary peers". BBC News. 12 November 2024. Archived from the original on 13 April 2025. Retrieved 13 November 2024.
23. ^ "House of Lords (Hereditary Peers) Bill: Committee stage". UK Parliament. Retrieved 10 July 2025.
24. ^ "House of Lords (Hereditary Peers) Bill: Report stage". UK Parliament. Retrieved 10 July 2025.
25. ^ "House of Lords (Hereditary Peers) Bill: Marshalled list of amendments to be moved on Report". House of Lords. 30 June 2025. Retrieved 3 July 2025.
26. ^ "House of Lords (Hereditary Peers) Bill: Amendment to be moved on Report". House of Lords. 8 July 2025. Retrieved 10 July 2025.
27. ^ "Hansard: House of Lords (Hereditary Peers) Bill". UK Parliament. 2 July 2025. Retrieved 3 July 2025.
28. ^ "Hansard: House of Lords (Hereditary Peers) Bill". UK Parliament. 2 July 2025. Retrieved 3 July 2025.
29. ^ "Hansard: House of Lords (Hereditary Peers) Bill". UK Parliament. 9 July 2025. Retrieved 10 July 2025.
30. ^ "Hansard: House of Lords (Hereditary Peers) Bill". UK Parliament. 9 July 2025. Retrieved 10 July 2025.
31. ^ a b "Serving the country". Labour Party. Archived from the original on 6 May 2025. Retrieved 10 February 2025., p. 108
32. ^ "Hansard – House of Lords Peerage Nominations Bill [HL]". UK Parliament. 14 March 2025. Retrieved 30 March 2025.
33. ^ Singh, Arj (6 September 2024). "Labour will abolish the Lords, minister confirms - but it will take 10 years". The i Paper. Archived from the original on 7 September 2024. Retrieved 7 September 2024.

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