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This page follows the House of Lords reform from Labour's 1997
manifesto commitment, through the House of Lords Act 1999,
the establishment of an Independent Appointments Commission,
the report from the Royal Commission on the Reform of the House of Lords
(Wakeham Commission) and the 2001 Labour manifesto, to
the 2001 White Paper, 'Completing the Reform'.
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1.The 1997 Labour Manifesto and the 1998-99
Queen's Speech
The Government is committed to a stage by stage reform of the House of Lords.
Following a manifesto commitment in the 1997 Labour manifesto to reform the
House of Lords, the Government included a bill (which then became the House of
Lords Act 1999) in the 1998-99 Queen's Speech
"The House of Lords must be reformed. As an initial, self-contained reform, not
dependent on further reform in the future, the right of hereditary peers to sit
and vote in the House of Lords will be ended by statute. This will be the first
stage in a process of reform to make the House of Lords more democratic and
representative. The legislative powers of the House of Lords will remain
unaltered.
The system of appointment of life peers to the House of Lords will be reviewed.
Our objective will be to ensure that over time party appointees as life peers
more accurately reflect the proportion of votes cast at the previous general
election. We are committed to maintaining an independent Crossbench presence of
life peers. No one political party should seek a majority in the House of
Lords.
A committee of both Houses of Parliament will be appointed to undertake a
wide-ranging review of possible further changes and then bring forward
proposals for reform"
From "New Labour: because Britain deserves better",
April 1997, pp32-3
"A Bill will be introduced to remove the right of hereditary peers to
sit and vote in the House of Lords. It will be the first stage in a process of
reform to make the House of Lords more democratic and representative. My
Government will publish a White Paper setting out arrangements for a new system
of appointments of life peers and establish a royal commission to
review further changes and speedily to bring forward proposals for reform."
From the Queen's Speech on November 24th 1998 (bold added)
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2.
The House of Lords Act 1999 and the 'Weatherill Amendment'
The House of Lords Act 1999 implements stage 1 of the House of Lords reform,
the removal from hereditary peers of the automatic right to sit and vote in the
House. Section 1 of the Act states that
"No-one shall be a member of the House of Lords by virtue of a hereditary
peerage"
Section 2 of the House of Lords Act 1999 made provision for the exclusion of 90
hereditary peers from Section 1. They are instead to be elected to sit in the
House of Lords as elected hereditary peers until a further Act of Parliament
amends the House of Lords Act 1999. The Earl Marshal and the Lord Great
Chamberlain are not included in the 90.
This compromise was reached as a result of the 'Weatherill Amendment'. Lord
Weatherill, at the time the Convenor of the Crossbench Peers, proposed
that out of over 750 hereditary peers eligible to sit and vote in the Lords in
1999, that 75 (1 tenth) should be excepted from Section 1 of the Act. These
peers would retain their seats by election from among their number, until stage
2 of the Lords reform. In addition to these 75, 14 more were to be elected by
the whole House to serve as Deputy Speakers and in other capacities, again
until stage 2 of the Lords reform.
The proposal was accepted (although the 14 additional peers went up to 15) and
of the 75 hereditary peers who retained their seats 29 are Crossbenchers. Two
Crossbenchers were elected to serve as Deputy Speakers or in other capacities,
and the Lord Great Chamberlain is a Crossbencher.
The number of elected hereditary peers is to be kept constant at 90. At any
time up to the end of the first session of the Parliament following the
enactment of the House of Lords Act 1999, if a vacancy occurs through the death
of an elected hereditary peer, the vacancy is to be filled by the nearest
runner-up in the relevant election. After this initial period, and if there has
been no further Act of reform, vacancies will be filled through by-elections.
The Clerk of the Parliaments maintains and publishes annually a register of
hereditary peers wishing to stand in a by-election.
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3.
The Appointments Commission
The white paper on Lords reform of January 1999 proposed the creation of a
non-statutory Appointments Commission which was, as an independent body, to
make recommendations on the appointment of non-party political peers to sit in
the interim House of Lords and to vet the suitability of all nominations to
life peerages. The independent Appointments Commission was set up by the Prime
Minister in May 2000 and is chaired by Lord Stevenson of Coddenham, a
Crossbencher.
The Appointments Commission has the role of recommending to Her Majesty The
Queen the names of non party political individuals to be appointed, based on
merit, to the interim House of Lords to serve as independent peers. In
September 2000 the Commission asked the public to self-nominate or to nominate
others they thought should be appointed to the House of Lords. 3,166
nominations were received and on 26th April 2001 15 new life peers were created to sit as independents.
The Commission makes recommendations on who should be appointed as independent
life peers and the Prime Minister decides how many will be appointed and when
they will be appointed. The Independent Appointments Commission is now
accepting nominations for the next group of appointments, although there has
been no indication when they will be appointed. The Government has committed
itself to maintaining the percentage of independent peers in the interim House
of Lords at its present level (around 20% excluding the Law Lords) and also to
the principle that no one party should have an overall majority in the Lords.
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4. The Royal Commission on the Reform of
the Lords
The Royal Commission was set up in February 1999 to make recommendations on the
role, functions and composition of the House of Lords in the future. The
Commission was chaired by Lord Wakeham and produced its' report 'A House for
the Future' in January 2000.
The Commission set itself three questions to answer:
"Now that most of the hereditary peers have left the House of Lords, there are
three basic questions that need to be answered.
� What is the role of the second chamber?
� What contribution could it make to the political life of the
��United Kingdom in the 21st century? and
� What is the modern rational basis on which it should be
��constituted?"
The Commission made 132 recommendations and the Government have given their
support to the report and its' conclusions, committing themselves to the
implementation of these conclusions in the most effective way possible.
One of Wakeham's suggestions was that a Joint Committee of both Houses be
established to review the report's recommendations before the Government
reached final conclusions as to the best way to proceed with stage 2 of Lords
reform. It was proposed that a Joint Committee of both Houses was
constituted but this was never set up as agreement could not be reached on its'
terms of reference.
The new Leader of the Lords, Lord Williams of Mostyn, has indicated that he
sees no role for a Joint Committee, but that the Government is committed to
consulting widely on stage II of Lords' Reform.
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5. "Ambitions for Britain", Labour's 2001
Manifesto
The 2001 Labour Manifesto committed the party to completing stage 2 of the
Lords reform
"We are committed to completing House of Lords reform, including removal of the
remaining hereditary peers, to make it more representative and democratic,
while maintaining the House of Commons' traditional primacy. We have given our
support to the report and conclusions of the Wakeham Commission, and will seek
to implement them in the most effective way possible. Labour supports
modernisation of the House of Lords' procedures to improve its effectiveness.
We will put the independent Appointments Commission on a statutory footing."
From 'Ambitions for Britain', Labour's Manifesto 2001, p35
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6. The November 2001 White Paper "The
House of Lords. Completing the Reform."
The Government's White Paper on Stage 2 of Lords Reform was published on 7th
November 2001. The proposals contained in 'The House of Lords. Completing the
Reform' are broadly in line with the recommendations of the Wakeham
Commission. The 3-month consultation period on the White Paper ends on 31st
January 2002.
When introducing the White Paper to the House of Lords Lord Williams of Mostyn
made a
statement in which he told the House that
"These proposals form the second part of the two-stage reform that we promised
when we legislated in 1999 to remove the automatic right of hereditary Peers to
be Members of your Lordships' House. They will complete the process of creating
a modern second Chamber to play its part in a Parliament fit for the 21st
century. We believe that Parliament as a whole will be strengthened by these
reforms."
The main changes will be
The hereditary peers will finally cease to have any privileged rights of
membership.
A majority of the members of the new House will be nominated by the political
parties, in proportions intended to reflect the shares of the national vote in
the previous General Election. There will also be about 120 appointed members
with no political affiliation, 120 directly elected members to represent the
nations and regions, and a continuing role for Law Lords and Bishops of the
Church of England.
An independent statutory Appointments Commission will have substantial powers.
It will appoint the independent members and decide - within certain bounds -
how many seats each major political party is entitled to, thereby substantially
reducing Government patronage.
The size of the House will be capped at 600 by statute, with an interim House
as close as may be to 750 members to accommodate existing life peers.
There will be formal commitments to achieving balance and representativeness in
the House, including of women and ethnic minorities.
The link with the peerage will be dissolved.
The House will be composed as follows
600 members, called Members of the Lords (ML).
120 independent members appointed by the Appointments Commission.
120 directly elected members.
16 bishops.
at least 12 Law Lords, and, very probably, some other Law Lords between the
ages of 70-75.
a balance of not more than 332 nominated political members, where the number
available to each party is determined by the Appointments Commission.
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