Tories warned they may get fewer new Lords after trying to block Labour’s attempt to kick the last hereditary peers out of the upper House_Nhy
The Tories have been warned they could get fewer new peers amid attempts to block Labour‘s reforms to the House of Lords.
The Government is currently engaged in a battle to eject the remaining 92 hereditary peers from the upper chamber.
Lord Strathclyde, a hereditary peer himself and a former Tory minister, this week warned the group would ‘go to war’ over Labour’s plans.
The remaining hereditary peers and their allies have claimed Labour’s legislation to remove them from the Lords is akin to a ‘purge’.
And they have warned about handing Sir Keir Starmer unprecedented powers by having an upper chamber – other than bishops – ‘wholly appointed’ by the PM.
The Government is facing a guerrilla war against its bill to remove the right of hereditary peers to sit in the Lords.
Around 90 amendments have been tabled to the legislation despite it only being a short bill.
But peers have also been accused of trying to sabotage the progress of other bills, by prolonging debates or attempting to adjourn the Lords early.
The Tories have been warned they could get fewer new peers amid attempts to block Labour’s reforms to the House of Lords
Peers have warned about handing Sir Keir Starmer unprecedented powers by having an upper chamber – other than bishops – ‘wholly appointed’ by the PM
A Labour source told The Times: ‘We’re perfectly accepting of defeats on policy. That is to be expected and part of the normal role of the House of Lords.
‘But it would not be wise for those resisting the removal of hereditary peers to attempt to unfairly interfere on other Government bills.’
The source also warned the Tories could ‘pay a price’ by having their number of new peers limited in future.
‘They’ve got the numbers to cause trouble,’ they added.
‘But if they do that, they will find that the numbers of Tory peers appointed will go down and they will pay a price for it.’
There are currently 279 Tory peers in the Lords, compared to 214 Labour peers, 184 crossbench peers, 78 Liberal Democrat peers and 41 non-affiliated peers.
Among the remaining hereditary peers, 45 are Conservative, 33 are crossbenchers, four are Labour, four are Lib Dems, and two are non-affiliated.
It means, if Labour is successful in removing the hereditary peers, the Tories’ majority over Labour in the Lords would be significantly reduced.
