SNP to Force Vote on Abolishing Lords

Labour Government Bill “Too Little, 114 Years Too Late”

The SNP will force a vote pressing the Labour government to abolish the House of Lords, as the House of Lords (Hereditary Peers) Bill goes to second reading today.

The SNP Westminster Deputy Leader will table a series of amendments pressing the Labour government to go much further, and finally fulfil the manifesto pledge they have been making and breaking since 1910 to abolish the Lords, starting with a reasoned amendment on Tuesday.

Prior to the UK general election, the Labour Party promised to abolish the Lords but instead the legislation, as it stands, will only remove 92 hereditary peers – who make up just 11% of the 804 sitting peers. The party has also broken its election manifesto commitment to impose a retirement age of 80, after handing Margaret Beckett (81) and Margaret Hodge (80) peerages in July.

It comes as new research, published by the SNP today, reveals the cost of the House of Lords ballooned to more than £212 million last year (2023/24) – an increase of £40 million on 2022/23

The research, commissioned by the SNP and conducted by the House of Commons Library, found that in the last year alone peers claimed around £24.2 million in allowances and expenses. Labour Party peers came in as the most expensive, claiming an average of £34,892 each compared to £29,548 each for all peers.

Despite promising to abolish the House of Lords since its 1910 election manifesto, the Labour Party has created at least 536 life peers in that time – including 37 since Keir Starmer became party leader and seven since he became Prime Minister in July.

The SNP has consistently called for the House of Lords to be abolished and has refused to nominate SNP peers on principle. In contrast, despite claiming to oppose the Lords for more than a century, the Labour Party has packed the chamber with donors and cronies – and there are reports that further peers will be created including a possible peerage for Sue Gray.

Background

House of Commons Library research, commissioned by the SNP

• Expenses claimed by Labour peers, and all peers, in the last year (2023/24) – link to House of Commons Library excel file (Data source: House of Lords expenses, UK parliament)
• “Comprehensive net expenditure by the House of Lords for 2023/24 was £212.5 million and £170.6 in 2022/23”. (Data source: House of Lords Annual Report and Resource Accounts 2023-24, page 79).
• “37 new Labour peerages have been created since Keir Starmer became leader of the Labour party on 4 April 2020. Seven new peerages have been created since Keir Starmer became Prime Minister, all of which were Labour peerages. Overall, 536 new Labour peerages have been created since 1958 when life peerages were introduced, out of a total of 1,611 life peerage creations.” (Data source: House of Lords data dashboard: Peerage creations).

Labour Party manifesto 1910 (pledge to abolish House of Lords, page 1) – http://www.labour-party.org.uk/manifestos/1910/jan/1910-jan-labour-manifesto.shtml

Keir Starmer: I will abolish House of Lords to ‘restore trust in politics’ – https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2022/nov/19/keir-starmer-i-will-abolish-house-of-lords-to-restore-trust-in-politics

Labour Party manifesto 2019 (pledge to abolish House of Lords, page 81) – https://ucrel.lancs.ac.uk/wmatrix/ukmanifestos2019/localpdf/Labour.pdf

Labour Party manifesto 2024 (pledge to abolish House of Lords and introduce a mandatory retirement age of 80, page 111) – https://labour.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2024/06/Change-Labour-Party-Manifesto-2024-large-print.pdf

‘Will Sue Gray get a peerage after resigning?’ – https://www.thetimes.com/uk/politics/article/peerage-for-sue-gray-questions-about-her-future-wont-go-away-c22b79clz

‘Labour donor ‘likely to get an honour’ – https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2024/10/03/labour-donor-dale-vince-honour-estranged-wife/