Passage of the bill would make the House of Lords completely de-hereditary, shifting power to a merit-based upper house
Dr. Akhtar Gulfam Director News Dawn TV + Editor-in-chief Daily Dawn
London: The British government has presented an important bill in the House of Lords, taking a historic step to end the centuries-old tradition.
The UK government has proposed a major parliamentary reform to end the right of remaining hereditary peers to sit and vote in the House of Lords, the most significant change to the upper house in 25 years.
The proposed bill aims to remove the previous 92 hereditary seats, ending the centuries-old tradition.
The proposed legislation, which is expected to come into effect as early as 2024, would do away with the current system of internal by-elections used to fill vacancies.
Passage of the bill would make the House of Lords completely de-hereditary and power would shift to a merit-based upper house.
The reforms will complete a process begun by Tony Blair’s government in 1999, which saw most of the legacy seats abolished but a number of them retained under a temporary arrangement.
Constitution Minister Nick Thomas Symonds called the move a “historic” step, saying the inherent principle in legislation was outdated.
The current 92 hereditary seats are all white men with an average age of around 70, a demographic criticized as unrepresentative of contemporary Britain. The reforms will also see the removal of the Earl Marshal and Lord Great Chamberlain, two key ceremonial roles.
Notably, the Labor Party, which has long called for House of Lords reform, also included the removal of hereditary peers in its recent election manifesto, calling their continued presence “indefensible”.
