Keir Starmer: He wants to remove from the House of Lords those who inherited their seats

London, Thanasis Gavos

The British government has tabled a bill that provides for the removal of the House of Lords of those members who have acquired their headquarters due to heredity.

92 Lords will lose their right to sit and vote in Britain’s Upper House, in a move described as the most significant change to the legislature in 25 years.

In 1999 the then Labor government under Tony Blair had revoked the right which had been preserved for seven centuries by all heirs to aristocratic titles to sit in the House of Lords.

That reform stipulated that only 92 members could be members of the House of Lords due to heredity. The selection of the 92 has so far been made by a plenary vote and when someone dies or voluntarily retires an election is held to replace them.

All 92 are male, white, with an average age of nearly 70 years.

The government’s move was included in the pre-election program of Sir Keir Starmerwhich stated that the presence of members in the legislature simply because of origin is “indefensible” in the modern era.

The bill is expected to be passed next year.

The leader of the House of Lords Baroness Smith welcomed the bill. She has said that Labor’s intention is to reduce the size of the second-ranking legislative body from the almost 800 members today to around 650, i.e. as many as the members of the House of Commons.

The party’s election manifesto called for compulsory retirement from the body at the age of 80 and for a future replacement of the House of Lords by a body more representative of today’s United Kingdom.