To the Lords, where this afternoon an urgent question was granted on the subject of hereditary peers. It follows today’s news that Sir Keir Starmer’s Labour government will remove the remaining 92 seats in the second chamber reserved for the hereditary position in 18 months, meaning these peers will be unable to both sit and vote in the House. But not everyone, it transpires, is particularly thrilled by the prospect…
This afternoon, Lord Strathclyde grilled the Leader of the House of Lords, Baroness Smith of Basildon, on why the government had been courteous enough keep peers informed of its reform timeline before the latest development made its way to the media. Baroness Smith replied that the bill – which, she says, will ‘conclude the process started almost a quarter of a century ago’ – was included in the King’s Speech in July, with the Labour peer insisting the government wants to maintain an ‘ongoing dialogue’ with peers about the looming changes.
Lord Strathclyde, however, remained unimpressed. ‘It was a bit shoddy,’ he fumed, ‘that she was prepared to speak to the press yesterday and had to be summoned to the dispatch box today rather than making a statement to the House about one of the most important issues facing this House, namely the composition of the House itself.’ Crikey. The Tory peer went on, raging:
My Lords, this is a high-handed, shoddy, political act: removing some of our most senior and experienced peers… Why is it that the government and the noble Baroness have not sought forward to have any discussions or consultations amongst the parties?
Oo er. Enacting Sir Keir’s constitutional reforms will not, it seems, be plain sailing…
Watch the clip here:
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