Peter Mandelson should save his slimming tips for the House of Lords Lord Peter Mandelson found himself in the headlines a couple of times this week. Firstly, when he criticised Labour’s plans to scrap the unelected Lords and replace it with an elected chamber that better represents... Posted 07 Mar 2024
How many peers are there in the House of Lords – and how many does it need? One of the unique features of our currently second chamber, apart from it being unelected and still partially based on inherited titles, is that its membership is huge. At over 800 peers in total, not... Posted 21 Dec 2023
Johnson’s resignation honours list will last a lifetime With the Prime Minister set to exit Downing Street in the near future, attention has turned to who’s staying behind: his resignation honours list. It is tradition for departing PMs to create new life peerages... Posted 28 Jul 2022
Once again, the government have ignored the consensus for Lords reform. Enough is enough The facts surrounding the dire state of the House of Lords are clear. It is grossly oversized – the largest legislative chamber in the world outside of China. It is wasteful: in the 2010-2015 parliament,... Posted 08 Mar 2019
The inquiry on cutting the Lords risks looking like a stitch up Back in December, the House of Lords voted unanimously to back the statement “that this House believes that its size should be reduced, and methods should be explored by which this could be achieved”. It... Posted 14 Feb 2017
How to shrink the Lords: have your say today If you think the House of Lords is in dire need of a shakeup, it’s time to tell Peers what you think. An inquiry by the Lord Speaker’s committee is looking at how to shrink our bloated upper chamber.... Posted 07 Feb 2017