Labour’s cynical House of Lords reform

This week, the House of Commons is focusing its attention on proposed reforms to the House of Lords. MPs backed plans to get rid of the remaining 92 hereditary peers on Tuesday, while a second bill which will increase the number of female bishops in the Lords had its second reading on Thursday. The contrasting nature of the two bills highlights the rather problematic way Labour is pursuing constitutional reform.

The Labour party’s 2024 manifesto made a number of promises on House of Lords reform. It pledged to remove hereditary peers, instate a mandatory retirement age, and included a commitment to introduce ‘an alternative second chamber which is more representative of the regions and nations’.

In spite of this, Sir Keir Starmer’s first Kings Speech only put forward two legislative measures. A bill removing the last of the hereditary peers, and a second bill relating to the bishops who sit in the Lords.