Lords up their voting as they claim virtual attendance rates

ALMOST half of peers attended House of Lords sessions more during lockdown after new rules allowed them to claim for virtual debates.

More than 350 peers claimed on more days in June this year than they did on average in the same month over the last three years.

Forty-seven members of the Lords claimed more money to attend virtually in 2020 than they did on average in 2017-19, despite the daily rate being halved for attendance from home.

Changes to the rules in early June meant peers were allowed to claim £162 per day for casting a single vote, prompting record levels of voting.

Data, released by Parliament, shows some peers claiming more than £2,000 for the month of June, despite never setting foot in the chamber.

Since they were told to work from home in March, they have cast their votes via a website, Peerhub. The Telegraph found that an average of 497 peers voted in an average division between June 15 and June 24, 137 more than the average number voting over the last five years.

John Dalrymple, the 14th Earl of Stair, claimed nine days’ allowance in June 2020, as much as the previous three

years combined. Lord Stair voted 12 times in June, after voting just 65 times in the previous 10 years, and attended meetings of the EU energy and environment subcommittee. He was paid £1,458 for his work.

Lord Stair, who lives in a 17th-century castle in southwest Scotland, said virtual attendance had allowed him to vote more than he would if he had to travel to London. “In terms of attendance, it is a considerable hike,” he said. “In the past, my physical voting has been linked with physical presence, but that does not diminish my interest in the House of Lords in any way at all. But if I’m in south-west Scotland, I cannot vote on everything that is going through.”

Lord Allan, a former Liberal Democrat MP, has not claimed for more than three days in June for three years. This year he claimed for eight, making £1,134. He voted 16 times in June, after voting just five times in the first five months of the year. Lord Allan did not respond to a request for comment.

Overall, the total bill for peers’ daily allowances was significantly lower this year, falling from £1.95 million in June 2019 to £710,000 in June 2020. A House of Lords spokesman said: “The changes made to the allowance scheme to reflect remote working have resulted in significant overall savings.”