Lords on course to reach 1,000 members in five years
THE number of peers could soar to more than 1,000 if the scale of the Chamber continues at the same pace of growth, the House of Lords has been warned.
Labour’s leader in the Lords, Baroness Smith of Basildon, said at question time there was speculation about the size of the coming Dissolution Honours List.
She said: “If we grow the same rate in this parliament as we did in the last parliament, by the time of the next election we could have over 1,000 peers.”
Lady Smith called for an examination of the impact of increasing numbers on the effectiveness of the chamber as an essential revising and scrutinising body.
The second chamber is now the second biggest legislature in the world after the Chinese politburo, and has overtaken in size the Euro- pean Parliament. David Cameron, the Prime Minister, is to announce another 50 Conservative peers in an attempt to create a large Tory voting bloc to pass more of the party’s policies through the Lords.
The Government has suffered a number of defeats in the Lords in recent days, including two more on Tuesday evening – over English votes for English laws and the devolution of health service functions to new combined authorities. Baroness Stowell of Beeston, the Leader of the Lords, said that while there had been an increase in the last parliament, more than 30 peers had also taken advantage of new rules allowing them to retire.
She promised to consider any proposals that might come forward on the size of the Lords and acknowledged the House could not “continue to grow indefinitely”.
Lady Stowell said the Government made clear in its manifesto that it did not plan to pursue “comprehensive reform” of the Lords during this parliament, which provided a “period of stability”.
Labour’s Lord CampbellSavours called for a freeze on the size of the House to “avoid public ridicule”. He suggested: “One retirement or one death equals one new appointment.”
Lady Stowell said there were many proposals but they had to be workable and attract a consensus.