UK PROTESTERS DISRUPT HOUSE OF LORDS

A group of around half a dozen people in the public gallery threw leaflets, shouted and sang during the demonstration at noon on Thursday.

- AGENCIES

The House was adjourned for a short time as the demonstrators were escorted out.

Protester Lucy Porter, 50, a primary school teacher from Leeds, said the media that she was "campaigning for a house of the people".

On the Lords, she said: "It's a symbol of everything that's outdated.

"We don't have a functioning democracy in this country."

The leaflets, apparently modelled on an album by the Sex Pistols punk band, had written on them: "Never mind the Lords here's the House of People." On the other side it stated: "Aristocrats and oligarchs: Out."

The protesters said they were acting on behalf of Assemble, an organisation that campaigns for the Lords to be abolished and replaced by a citizens' assembly.

Citizens' assemblies are selected by sortition, which means members of the public are picked at random via a lottery.