Call to impose ‘one in, two out’ rule on Lords to cut size of second chamber
The House of Lords should have a “one in, two out” policy to cut the number of peers down by a quarter, according to proposals by a Lords committee.
Peers warned the size of the House of Lords will hit 1,000 if political parties fail to back their plans to cut numbers.
The number of peers would be gradually cut to 600 over the next ten years and then capped at that level, under the recommendations from the Lord Speaker’s committee. New peers would serve a maximum of 15 years.
The proposals come after criticism over the size of the second chamber and the scale of expenses claimed by peers who fail to play an active role in the Lords.
Reforms can be carried out without legislation but will need backing from the government and opposition parties, the committee said, calling the recommendations the “best shot in a generation” of reforming the House of Lords.
Lord Speaker Lord Fowler said reaching 1,000 peers would be “totally unacceptable to everybody”.
He said: “The House of Lords carries out vitally important work in holding the government to account. However, with over 800 members – about 150 more than the Commons – we are too large. The time has come to take action to correct this and put a cap on numbers for the future.”
Under the plans, the composition of the chamber would reflect general election results. Each party would be asked to axe the same proportion of its current membership each year to help meet the target.
It would mean the Liberal Democrats, which have 96 life peers, would not dramatically reduce their numbers in the Lords initially, despite having just 12 MPS.
Some 150 peers would leave by 2022, but 75 new appointments would be made in that period under the timetable set out by the committee. In the five years to 2016, 125 peers retired or died.
No party would be allowed an absolute majority and at least 20 per cent of seats would be reserved for independent crossbench members.
Peers did not make recommendations on reforming the system for hereditary peers because changes would require legislation. SNP MP Tommy Sheppard said: “This is a small step in the right direction – but this kind of reform is not nearly ambitious enough. It is too little too late.”
Lord Fowler hoped there would be a debate on the report before Christmas with more detailed consideration of the specific measures proposed in the New Year.