The House of Lords is the second chamber of our Parliament. Before bills become laws, they must pass through the House of Lords, and Lords themselves play a key role in scrutinising public policy.
That all sounds reasonable. What’s entirely unreasonable, though, is that to be a member of the House of Lords, you don’t need to be elected by the public. There are a number of routes to becoming a Lord, and none of them are democratic.
Political Lists
Leaders of the Labour, Conservative and Liberal Democrat parties have the power to appoint peers through ‘political lists’.
Several political appointments were made in December 2024. Labour appointed thirty peers, the Conservative Party appointed six, and the Liberal Democrats appointed two. That’s thirty-eight new members of the house of lords who get a say in our politics for the rest of their lives, or until they resign, with no public backing.
When nominated, potential peers are vetted by the House of Lords Appointments Commission prior to being appointed. This is true of all types of appointment – but not for ‘Lords Spiritual’ or ‘Hereditary Peers’.
Resignation Honours
Resignation Honours are honours granted by outgoing Prime Ministers. They include titles such as knighthoods and damehoods, as well as peerages which see recipients appointed to the House of Lords.
In 2022, following her resignation after just 45 days in office, Liz Truss released a resignation honours list at the same time as the New Years Honours list.
Ad Hoc Announcements
Peerages can also be granted by the government on an ad hoc basis throughout the year. These need not be part of any particular honours list.
Dissolution Honours
Parliament is ‘dissolved’ ahead of a general election. It means that the current sitting parliament has ended permanently, and it happens either at the end of a parliament’s maximum term of five years, or earlier if a general election is called before the term is up.
Dissolution honours allow parties to nominate outgoing MPs and political staff for peerages. The 2024 dissolution honours list saw 19 new peers appointed to the House of Lords.
Hereditary Peerages
Some members of the House of Lords are entitled to their peerage through birthright. Holding a hereditary title doesn’t automatically grant you a seat in the Lords, but it means you’re eligible to take one of the reserved seats. When a place becomes available, holders of hereditary peerages are able to stand in by-elections, which only members of the House of Lords can vote in.
However, political power is not something that should be inherited. You wouldn’t accept a hereditary lawyer or dentist, so why a hereditary legislator?
There are currently 92 hereditary peers still in our Lords – all are male, and all are white. Due to male primogeniture, we essentially have reserved seats for men in our parliament.
Thankfully, a bill is currently passing through parliament which, if it is successful, will see the removal of the 92 seats reserved for hereditary peers.
Lords Spiritual
There are 26 seats in the House of Lords for senior bishops of the Church of England: these are the ‘lords spiritual’.
Five of the bishops are automatically granted a seat, including the archbishop of canterbury. The other 21 seats aren’t granted to any particular bishops automatically and are instead filled by various bishops from eligible dioceses.
Multiple routes into the Lords, and they’re all undemocratic
There are all manner of routes into the House of Lords, yet the only path that’s actually justifiable in a democratic society is missing: one which sees Lords elected fairly by the people.
It’s time to scrap this rotten system and replace the unelected Lords with a smaller elected chamber where the people of this country, not prime ministers, choose who shape the laws we all live under.
Add your name to our call: We don’t need any more unelected lords in Parliament
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