New research casts light on ‘out of control' House of Lords

16th August 2015

Statement from the Electoral Reform Society.

To read the full report [1] and a briefing with all the report's findings, see the link in the notes [2]

The Electoral Reform Society will release a major new report on the House of Lords this Sunday - the first piece of research on Britain's upper chamber since the General Election.

The report, launched in the Sunday Times and entitled ‘House of Lords: Fact vs Fiction’, sheds new light on Britain’s second House following a tumultuous month for the unelected chamber, laying bare the facts on cost, size, independence, and representativeness of the Lords.

The exclusive research focuses on five key points:

The cost of the Lords - In the 2010-2015 parliament, £360,000 was claimed by Peers in years they failed to vote once - ten Lords were responsible for £236,000 of this.

In the last Parliamentary session alone, over £100,000 was claimed by Peers who did not vote at all. At the same time, Cameron’s plans for an additional 50 Peers will cost at least £1.3m per year.

Independence - In the 2014-15 session nearly half (45%) of all Crossbenchers participated in 10 or fewer votes - compared to an average of just 8% of party political Peers, while a quarter of appointments to the House of Lords between 1997 and 2015 were former MPs.

Professional politicians - Over a third of Lords (34%) previously worked in politics. Just 1% come from manual backgrounds.

A supersized House - to rebalance the upper chamber strictly in line with the 2015 General Election results would require the appointment of an additional 723 members.

Out of date - 44% of Lords list their main addresses in London and the South East, while 54% are 70 or older.
Darren Hughes, Deputy Chief Executive of the Electoral Reform Society, said:

"This research completely busts the myths peddled by supporters of an unreformed House of Lords. ‘Fact vs Fiction’ shows conclusively that the House of Lords is growing out of control, with the government set on appointing hundreds more Peers at a cost of millions.

"We have shown that far from being a bastion of independence, non-partisan Crossbench Peers turn up far less frequently than party-political Peers. And it’s those Peers who vote as a bloc, with Labour voting against the last coalition government, Conservative Peers voting against the last Labour government nearly 100% of the time.

“On top of that, we have found that over a third of Lords previously worked in politics – compared to less than 1% of the British public. This is not a chamber of experts – it’s a chamber of professional politicians. Our House of Lords looks nothing like the public whose decisions it impacts – almost half live in London or the South East, while there are just two Peers under the age of 40. This is a shockingly out of date and unrepresentative institution.

“The Prime Minister said he ‘regrets’ not reforming the second House in the last Parliament. It’s time for him to act – and finally fix our broken upper chamber."

For more quotes, information or to arrange an interview, contact Josiah Mortimer, Communications Officer, josiah.mortimer[AT]electoral-reform.org.uk, 07717211630

[1] Full report here: http://electoral-reform.org.uk/sites/default/files/House-of-Lords-Fact-Vs-Fiction%20%281%29.pdf

[2] PDF:http://electoral-reform.org.uk/sites/default/files/House%20of%20Lords%20Report%20Briefing%20-%20JM%20August%202015.pdfDoc:http://electoral-reform.org.uk/sites/default/files/House%20of%20Lords%20Report%20Briefing%20-%20JM%20August%202015.docx