Keir Starmer, the leader of the British Labor Party (the main opposition party in the UK), presented a major reform plan on Monday morning which among other things includes the abolition of the House of Lords, if the party wins the next elections (scheduled for the end of 2024). Speaking about the proposal, and referring to the upper house of the UK parliament, Starmer said:
“I think the House of Lords is indefensible. Anyone who looks at the House of Lords could not tell that it should be maintained.’
The plan is contained in a report produced by a party commission led by former Prime Minister Gordon Brown: it is entitled “A New Britain: Renewing our Democracy and Rebuilding our Economy” and according to Starmer it will have to underpin all future Labor policies.
It is not the first time that Labor has tried to reform the British parliament, removing power from the House of Lords, but so far a proposal to abolish it completely has never been formalized.
The British Parliament consists of two chambers, both of which meet in the Palace of Westminster in London. The lower house is the House of Commons and is the only elective one, while the House of Lords, i.e. the upper house, is made up partly of hereditary members, partly of life members and of the “spiritual” Lords, bishops of the Church of England.
The main function of the House of Lords is to verify and amend bills proposed by the House of Commons before the final vote, but with very many limitations. Lords can, for example, filibuster some laws, but not beyond a certain time.
The number of members of the House of Lords is not fixed: they are currently 786, of which 92 by hereditary right (those who belong to the historical great aristocratic families). None of the Lords are elected by British citizens: they are appointed by the Queen or by the King upon nomination by the Prime Minister. Typically, each prime minister proposes former ministers, political allies, party officials, or other people with whom he or his party has political deals. In other words, the House of Lords is a place where majority political forces can accommodate friends and allies who have more or less reached the end of their political careers.
In recent years, there had been several discussions of a reform of the House of Lords, considered by many – and especially by Labor – as a hindrance to the legislative process of parliament, as well as an unjust privilege for those who are part of it. The last major reform was introduced in 1999 by Tony Blair’s Labor government: hundreds of “hereditary” Lords were excluded from the chamber and only 92 of them were allowed to remain. Since then there have been various other attempts to reform it and to do away with hereditary offices altogether, but none of the plans so far have ever come to fruition.
