6 Jul 2021

Hereditary peers: too posh to push out?

We speak to a hereditary peer, a life peer and a constitutional expert to understand why it’s so hard to try to change the upper chamber.

Last month an election happened that you might not have known about.

It was for hereditary peerages in the House of Lords and it gave three men a right to sit in our Parliament for life. There were only 36 people who voted in that election.

When Tony Blair whittled down the hereditary peers from several hundred to just 92, they were meant to only sit there for a few years. Yet here are, 21 years later, and nothing has changed.

We speak to a hereditary peer, a life peer and a constitutional expert to understand why it’s so damn hard to try to change a House that is one of the largest parliamentary bodies in the world – only beaten in number by the Chinese National People’s Congress.

 

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