Labour's "Odd" Plans For Lords Reform Cast Doubt Over Abolition

Labour faces questions over whether plans to reform the House of Lords in its first term of government will undermine the party's long-term ambition to abolish the Upper Chamber.

Sources say Labour's General Election manifesto – due to be published on Thursday – includes measures to introduce an upper age limit for peers of 80 and scrap by-elections for hereditary peers, as first reported by The Times.

Party sources have confirmed to PoliticsHome that abolition is not included in the manifesto, which has frustrated some Labour members and campaigners for constitutional reform. In late 2022, leader Keir Starmer said the House of Lords was "indefensible" and that a Labour government would abolish it — but did not specify when. 

PoliticsHome has also been told that Labour plans to introduce a tougher participation requirement whereby peers would lose their seat if they are not active enough as members of the Lords. Currently legislation allows for the removal of any peer who does not attend the Lords during a whole session.

One effect of Labour's age limit policy, so far overlooked, is that it would disproportionately impact the party's own group of peers, potentially requiring leader Starmer as prime minister to appoint even more new peers than otherwise necessary.

The impact would be uneven because the average age of Labour peers is currently 74 – seven years older than the average age of Conservative members, which is 67.

After 14 years of Conservative government, Labour has considerably fewer peers: 172 compared to 275 Tory members of the Lords.

PoliticsHome research has found that, of the 23 sitting peers who have died in the last 16 months, two are Lib Dems, three are Conservative, eight are crossbench, and 10 are Labour.

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