Britain votes to oust hereditary peers from its upper house

LONDON - British hereditary peers will no longer be able to sit and vote in the House of Lords after a Bill to remove them cleared Parliament on March 10.

Britain’s upper house and Lesotho’s Senate are the only legislative bodies in the world that still contain a hereditary element, the government said.

But once this Bill comes into effect at the end of this session of Parliament later this year, all 92 hereditary peers who can still vote in the Lords, which include a range of dukes, viscounts, and earls, will lose their membership of the upper house. They can only get it back if they are made life peers.

The government called the measure “one of the biggest reforms to Parliament in a generation” and said it completes reform of the Lords which began under Tony Blair’s Labour government in the late 1990s.

“The Lords plays a vital role within our bicameral Parliament, but nobody should sit in the House by virtue of an inherited title,” said leader of the House of Lords, Baroness Smith.

“Getting this bill through is a major first step towards reform of the Lords, with further changes to follow - including on members’ retirement and participation requirements.”

The government said removing the “archaic and undemocratic” hereditary peerages fulfills a key manifesto pledge.

“Our Parliament should always be a place where talents are recognised and merit counts,” said Cabinet Office Minister Nick Thomas-Symonds. “It should never be a gallery of old boys’ networks, nor a place where titles, many of which were handed out centuries ago, hold power over the will of the people.”

The Lord Speaker thanked the hereditary peers for their service however.

“Whatever views people may have of this constitutional change, it is sad to say goodbye to friends, who in many cases have contributed significantly to debate and scrutiny and to our institutional memory,” Lord Speaker, Lord Forsyth of Drumlean, said in a statement.

The Lords comprises around 800 members, most of whom are appointed for life.

They include former MPs, typically appointed by departing prime ministers, along with people nominated after serving in prominent public- or private-sector roles, and senior Church of England clerics, including the Archbishop of Canterbury.

The primary role of the centuries-old chamber is to scrutinise the government.

It cannot override legislation sent from the elected House of Commons, but it can amend and delay bills and initiate new draft laws.

Mr Blair’s government had intended to abolish all the seats held by hundreds of hereditary members who sat in the chamber at that time.

It managed to remove 600, but 92 were retained in what was supposed to be a temporary compromise. AFP