Tories fight abolition of hereditary peers in effort to stall Lords overhaul

Labour's plan to replace the upper house was scaled back to scrapping hereditaries - but even that is proving difficult

- Rowena Mason

Abolishing hereditary peers was supposed to be the easy part of House of Lords reform for Labour, which grandly set out plans three years ago to replace the second chamber altogether.

But Conservative peers yesterday launched an effort to clog up the legislation as it goes through parliament, suggesting delays to allow abolished hereditaries more time to find a job, allowing some of them to stay, or even converting them to become life peers.

As a detailed scrutiny of the bill begins, 116 amendments have been put forward, which are likely to be debated individually. Some propose progressive changes such as cutting the number of peers, introducing attendance requirements and getting rid of bishops from the house, but many are aimed at watering down the abolition of hereditaries.

The tactics, largely from Conservative peers, are aimed at holding up the government's legislative programme and annoying the cabinet so much that ministers will appeal to No 10 to strike a deal and end up compromising.

Labour insiders say there will be no compromise over hereditaries. But the battle over such a minor element of Lords reform shows how far the party is from its bullish position of 2022.

Keir Starmer at that time memorably described the whole institution of the House of Lords as "indefensible", as he set out ambitious plans to replace it with an elected second chamber within the first term of a Labour government. Party strategists were convinced it was best to cram the biggest changes into the first year of a first term.

"We thought it was best to get it over and done with in a big package at that stage," said one Labour adviser. "But when the scale of what the Tories had left us to deal with hit home, you suddenly have to question what do you have the bandwidth for in government. Do people care enough about Lords reform or do they care about you dealing with the cost of living, housing and all the other problems?"