McAvoy missed just one day at the Lords
Attendance figures are one of the best among peers
Lord McAvoy of Rutherglen has one of the best attendance records at the House of Lords according to the latest figures.
The former Rutherglen MP attended 54 out of 55 sessions from January to April this year.
He was one of 205 out of 842 peers who showed up over 50 times in that period.
In contrast, 40 peers didn’t show up at all while a further 97 didn’t attend for over 10 days.
Lord McAvoy told the Reformer: “I am the Labour spokesperson for Scotland and the Labour spokesperson for Northern Ireland and I am also deputy chief whip in the Lords.
“It is important the government is scrutinised. The Lords sits dealing with legislation.
“There are different categories of lords and when Gordon Brown recommended me I was in a group called ‘working peers’.
“It is accepted that not every peer should come all the time but if you are a working peer you are expected to have a decent attendance record.
“As long as the Lords is sitting I will be there as I take it seriously.”
The figures relate to peers who claimed for their single day allowance in the first four months of the year.
Lord McAvoy has previously expressed his wish for reform of the Lords, although he has been clear he believes an elected Lords would challenge the authority of the House of Commons.
He added: “The negative angle would be about the single day allowance but you only get paid if you attend, and I support that.
“You hav e 850 peers but only around 350- 400 who turn up reg ul a r l y . “This is not widely known but there are still 92 hereditary peers and at a stroke I would remove them.
“I would have a retirement age of 80 and a minimal attendance. If someone has done something wrong legally or are found guilty of a crime, they should not be allowed.
“When I was an MP, for 23 years, I would go to the MPs’ tea room at 7.30am every morning and we still go there every morning at 7.30am to chew the fat and I’m always among the last to leave at night.
“If that makes me a dull, boring person then so be it.”