Tories beef up Lords to swing key votes

DOWNING Street is pushing to have ten new Tory peers appointed ahead of a series of crucial Brexit votes in the Lords this month.

Theresa May wants to beef up the party’s presence in the upper chamber – where it has no majority – following a string of defeats.

A list of ten former MPs was submitted to the House of Lords appointments commission in January. They were expected to be approved within a month but are still being considered.

A Whitehall source said the delay was in part due to the controversy surrounding former cabinet minister Peter Lilley, named in a Channel 4 Dispatches investigation into lobbying days after appearing on the list. He was filmed discussing potential payments for advising Chinese tycoons on how to make money from Brexit alongside former health secretary Lord Lansley and former chief whip Andrew Mitchell. All three denied wrongdoing.

Downing Street is aiming for the commission to sign off the list – to ‘refresh’ the Lords – when Parliament returns after Easter ahead of a string of votes on the EU Withdrawal Bill this month. It comes despite Mrs May’s pledge in February to reduce the number of peers.