How rebel peers are obstructing Labour

A Tory-dominated House of Lords set to lose its hereditary peers is intent on blocking the government's legislative plans

- By Jessica Elgot

Dining in the House of Lords canteen just after Labour came to power, one Labour adviser found themselves sitting opposite two Tory peers.

The pair were fuming about the forthcoming abolition of hereditary peers. Both agreed, the adviser said, that there should be a strategy to undermine the government on all its legislation, to slow down debate, and to push the new Lords leader, Angela Smith, to ask No 10 for concessions.

Another recalled a Tory peer telling the new Labour Lords appointees: “We are going to grind you down.”

Even with an enormous majority in the Commons, Labour has seemed to struggle to pass much of its programme. But by far the hardest slog has been in the Lords.

Already Labour has faced 111 defeats. The record is 128 defeats for the Conservatives, under Boris Johnson during the 2021-22 session.

Labour peers said virtually every bill had been slowed down. The employment rights bill was repeatedly rejected, even after a major concession.

Amendments are being “de-grouped” at late stages into smaller groups of one or two, meaning debates last hours longer. “Each time it is the same people,” one Labour peer said. “Former Tory MPs, making the same kind of speeches over and over again.”