Lord Forsyth ends 92 Hereditary Peers' Lords seats
Hereditary peers left the House of Lords for the final time on Wednesday as a law removing their seats took effect when the current session of Parliament ended earlier. The move ended the last remaining hereditary seats in a chamber that still held 92 of them after the 1999 compromise.
Lord Forsyth of Drumlean thanked the departing peers in a farewell speech and said, “For close to a thousand years, hereditary peers and their families have helped to shape our institutions, defend our country, preserve our culture and strengthen that spirit of public service without which no nation can flourish.”
Lord Forsyth and the farewell
Forsyth also said hereditary peers had brought “an ethos of service, a long view and, not least, independence of mind.” He added that they had often shown “a willingness to speak plainly, to resist passing fashions, and to act according to conscience rather than convenience.”
The law removing their right to sit in the Lords passed last month and put into effect Labour’s 2024 election manifesto commitment. The government said 15 Conservatives and some crossbenchers will be allowed to stay as life peers so the House can continue to function effectively and so the experience of some departing hereditary peers is not lost.
Lord Strathclyde and Lord Salisbury
Lord Strathclyde said Wednesday was a “sad and miserable day to be thrown out of the House of Lords” and said, “The hereditaries were only 10% of the House,” before adding, “They did no harm and provided historical perspective, so this just feels wrong.”
Retired Tory peer Lord Salisbury called the end of the tradition “quite sentimental.” He said, “When I was negotiating with Tony Blair all those years ago, I was clear that if you simply remove the hereditaries, you leave a purely nominated chamber.”
The change completes an overhaul that started a quarter of a century ago, when Tony Blair’s government reduced the number of hereditary peers from 759 to 92 in a compromise with the Conservatives. The remaining hereditary peers will now sit alongside around 700 existing life peers and 26 Church of England archbishops and bishops.
Further reforms are already planned, including a participation requirement and a retirement age, with select committee reports expected later this year.
Parliament's next reform phase
That leaves the Lords with a more fully appointed composition after Wednesday’s departure, while the next step in the reform process moves to the planned committee reports later this year.
