House of Lords: MPs back ending all hereditary peers

As well as promising to bring about “immediate modernisation” to the Lords by abolishing hereditary peers, Labour’s general election manifesto pledged to introduce a mandatory retirement age of 80 for members of the upper house.

It also said the party was committed to replacing the House of Lords with “an alternative second chamber that is more representative of the regions and nations”.

But these changes are not included in the bill and the government has not set out a timeline for when they will be delivered.

Defending the government’s approach, Cabinet Office minister Ellie Reeves said previous attempts to reform the Lords “all in one go” had failed and the government wanted to see “immediate reform”.

She added that the government would then consult on how to deliver its other manifesto commitments on the House of Lords.

Reeves said the government “values the good work done by hereditary peers” but the bill was “a matter of principle”.

“In the 21st Century it cannot be right for there to be places in our legislature reserved for those born into certain families,” she told the Commons.

Meanwhile, peers were also taking part in their own debate on the issue of Lords reform.

Conservative peer Lord True was among those to criticise the government’s plans.

The shadow leader of the House of Lords argued the aim of the bill was “partisan” removing “88 peers who do not align themselves with Labour and four who do”.

He also said the move would cause “great hurt”.

“The execution will have to be done at close quarters, brushing shoulders in the lobbies as we go to vote for the removal of much-respected colleagues.”

Fellow Conservative peer and former cabinet minister Lord Forsyth of Drumlean accused Labour of “a disgraceful piece of political gerrymandering” aimed at “weakening the scrutiny” of the government.

“If the party opposite continues with this act of constitutional vandalism they ain’t seen nothing yet,” he warned.

The job of the House of Lords is to scrutinise the work of government and recommend changes to proposed legislation.

Most peers are appointed by the monarch on the prime minister’s advice.

The majority of hereditary peers were abolished in 1999 under the last Labour government, leaving only 92 in a compromise deal with the Conservatives.