Tag Archives: Lords

Michael Hall

What this country needs: the conversion of life peerages into hereditary ones

By Michael Hall | Fri 26th February 2016 - 3:56 pm

House of Lords - Some rights reserved by UK Parliament

The House of Lords (Maximum Membership) Bill was published only yesterday and was scheduled for a second reading today.

It is one of a number of Bills introduced by backbench Conservative MPs listed for second reading which seem off the wall and it is a wonder that they were scheduled for second reading debate without having first been printed.

One would assume from its title that this Bill has the sole purpose of limiting the number of active peers. It does that and, no doubt because the Bill has been rushed into print at the last minute, the dates for it to take effect are all in the past.

It provides for a maximum number of 650 peers, and it also provides for compulsory retirement in order of seniority to reduce the number of active peers to that magic figure.

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