Tag Archives: Grocott Bill
The House of Lords is too large: party leaders must put aside short-term interests and agree plans to reduce its numbers
Five years after its creation, the Lord Speaker's committee on the size of the House has called for firm, fast action on reducing the number of peers in the legislature. Chair of the committee, Lord (Terry) Burns, argues that it is essential that party leaders have the courage to come together and agree the necessary measures.
To mark the retirement of Lord (Norman) Fowler as Lord Speaker, the committee he set up to make recommendations on reducing the size of the House of Lords recently published its fourth report. I have had the intriguing task of chairing the committee, which was ably advised by the Constitution Unit's Director, Meg Russell.
The House of Lords has too many members
There have been over 1,500 life peers appointed since the enactment of the Life Peerages Act 1958. Of those, just over 800 have now died or retired. The net result is a House today consisting of some 700 life peers, 92 hereditary peers (there are currently vacancies because several by-elections were postponed due to the pandemic) and 26 bishops. The numbers for hereditary peers and bishops are both set by legislation, and it follows that changes to the overall size of the House are now determined almost entirely by increases or decreases in the number of life peers – which is not limited by statute or convention.
During the first 30 or so years of life peerages, there were an average of 20 appointments per year, which has since risen to 30 per year. The average age at appointment has been reasonably steady at 60, with a small decline in recent years.
There were relatively few leavers in the early years owing to the small size of the group of life peers, but over the past 30 years the average number has been close to 20 per year. The average age of leavers has risen over time, reflecting increased life expectancy, and has stood at a little over 80 in recent years.
The House was greatly reduced in size by the 1999 reforms, which removed hundreds of hereditary peers, but concerns have been raised during the past 10 years about its increasing size as the number of life peers rose above 700 and the total number of members moved back above 800. Several relatively small legislative changes have been introduced allowing for retirements and excluding members after a period of non-attendance – but all attempts to change the composition of the House have foundered.
Posted in Parliament, Parties and politicians	| Tagged Burns Committee, crossbench, Grocott Bill, hereditary peers, House of Lords, House of Lords Act 1999, House of Lords appointments, House of Lords Appointments Commission, House of Lords size, Life Peerages Act 1958, life peers, Lord Burns, Lord Fowler, Lord Mcfall, Lord Speaker, Lord Speaker's Committee on the Size of the House of Lords, prime minister, Theresa May | 5 Comments
Reducing the size of the House of Lords: two steps forward, two steps back
Posted on April 18, 2019 by The Constitution Unit
There has for some time been an apparent consensus in parliament and government that the House of Lords has too many members, yet recent efforts to effect reform have made little progress. David Beamish explains how an apparent change of government position and the parliamentary tactics of a determined minority have slowed the pace of change.
There has long been concern, both within parliament and outside it, about the number of members of the House of Lords – currently over 780. The prospect of major reform seems remote. However, there have been two strands of activity to try to reduce the numbers: the proposals of the Lord Speaker's committee on the size of the House (the Burns committee), and a private member's bill to end by-elections to replace hereditary peers (the Grocott bill).
In November 2017 I wrote a blog post describing the publication of the report of the Burns committee as 'a real opportunity for progress on reform'. In July 2018 I wrote another blog post on the continuing hereditary peer by-elections in the House, ending with the comment that, although other issues currently dominate the political and parliamentary agenda, 'there may nevertheless be some prospect of real progress in relation to both the size of the House of Lords and the ending of the hereditary peer by-elections'. Subsequently there was heartening progress on both fronts, but last month saw two reverses. Continue reading →
Posted in Parliament	| Tagged Alternative Vote, Bernard Jenkin, closure motion, David Beamish, European Union (Withdrawal) (No. 5) Bill, Grocott Bill, hereditary peers, House of Lords, house of lords appointment commission, House of Lords appointments, House of Lords Hereditary Peers Abolition of By-Elections Bill, lord ravensdale, Lord Strathclyde, Lords reform, PACAC, private members' bills, Public Administration and Constitutional Affairs Committee | 1 Comment
No end to hereditary peer by-elections in the House of Lords?
Posted on July 24, 2018 by The Constitution Unit
The House of Lords is not entirely unelected; July saw two new peers appointed following elections involving a very small, select group of electors. In this post, former Clerk of the Parliaments David Beamish discusses the process by which hereditary peers can be elected to the Lords, how the system came to exist, and the continuing efforts to remove the remaining hereditaries altogether.
It was announced on 18 July that Lord Bethell had been elected to fill a vacancy among the 90 elected hereditary peers in the House of Lords – the 34th such vacancy to be filled by means of a by-election. The vacancy arose from the retirement of the Conservative peer Lord Glentoran (the House's only Winter Olympic gold medallist) on 1 June. These by-elections are conducted using the alternative vote system and, despite there being 11 candidates, Lord Bethell did not need any transfers of votes, receiving 26 of the 43 first-preference votes cast by Conservative hereditary peers.
This was the second by-election this month: on 4 July the Earl of Devon was elected to fill a Crossbench place vacated by the retirement of Earl Baldwin of Bewdley, grandson of Stanley Baldwin and a tireless campaigner against water fluoridation. The Earl of Devon received 7 of the 26 first-preference votes of Crossbench hereditary peers and it took five transfers of votes for him to be elected.
Viscount Mountgarret was a candidate in both by-elections, receiving no votes in either. His optimism when deciding to stand the second time might have been fuelled by the success of the Earl of Oxford and Asquith, who was elected by the whole House in 2014 and sits as a Liberal Democrat, having previously been an unsuccessful candidate in a Crossbench by-election in 2011 and in Conservative by-elections in 2011 and 2013.
At least one more by-election is in prospect: Lord Northbourne, a Crossbench hereditary peer, has given notice that he will retire on 4 September.
Where do by-elections come from? The House of Lords Act 1999
The present arrangements whereby 92 hereditary peers sit in the House of Lords derive from the House of Lords Act 1999, which removed most of the 750 hereditary peers but provided, under the so-called 'Weatherill amendment', for two office-holders (the Earl Marshal and the Lord Great Chamberlain) and 90 elected hereditary peers to continue as members. The 90 comprised 15 peers willing to serve as deputy speakers or committee chairs, elected by the whole House, and 75 peers representing 10 per cent of the hereditary peers in each party or group: 42 Conservatives, 28 Crossbenchers, 3 Liberal Democrats and 2 Labour peers; they were elected by the hereditary peers in their respective groups. Continue reading →
Posted in Brexit, Other, Parliament	| Tagged Alternative Vote, Baroness Hayman, Burns Committee, Constitutional Reform and Governance Bill, Crossbenchers, David Beamish, Earl Baldwin of Bewdley, Earl Marshal, Earl of Devon, Earl of Oxford and Asquith, Grocott Bill, hereditary peers, hereditary peers by-elections, House of Lords, House of Lords Act 1999, House of Lords Act 1999 (Amendment) Bill, House of Lords by-elections, House of Lords Hereditary Peers Abolition of By-Elections Bill, house of lords reform, House of Lords Reform Act 2014, House of Lords Reform Bill 2012, Lord Bethell, Lord Blunkett, Lord Burns, Lord Forsyth of Drumlean, Lord Glentoran, Lord Great Chamberlain, Lord Grocott, Lord Irvine of Lairg, Lord Northbourne, Lord Speaker, Lord Steel, Lord Steel of Aikwood, Lord Young of Cookham, Lords reform, Pete Dorey, Viscount Mountgarret, Weatherill amendment | 1 Comment