The House of Lords (Hereditary Peers) Bill Explained

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S… Speaker 1 (The House of Lords (Hereditary Peers) Bill Explained)

This video is brought to you by Brilliant.

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S… Speaker 1 (The House of Lords (Hereditary Peers) Bill Explained)

In the run -up to the 2024 general election,

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S… Speaker 1 (The House of Lords (Hereditary Peers) Bill Explained)

Labour Party leader Sir Keir Starmer committed to reforming the House of Lords if

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S… Speaker 1 (The House of Lords (Hereditary Peers) Bill Explained)

elected Prime Minister,

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S… Speaker 1 (The House of Lords (Hereditary Peers) Bill Explained)

in two main ways.

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S… Speaker 1 (The House of Lords (Hereditary Peers) Bill Explained)

The commitment first was to introduce a new age limit on members of

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S… Speaker 1 (The House of Lords (Hereditary Peers) Bill Explained)

the House of Lords.

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S… Speaker 1 (The House of Lords (Hereditary Peers) Bill Explained)

Starmer suggested that this should be set at 80 years old,

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S… Speaker 1 (The House of Lords (Hereditary Peers) Bill Explained)

although he didn't specify a timeline for this to be introduced.

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S… Speaker 1 (The House of Lords (Hereditary Peers) Bill Explained)

The second commitment was to remove the remaining hereditary peers from the

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S… Speaker 1 (The House of Lords (Hereditary Peers) Bill Explained)

chamber.

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S… Speaker 1 (The House of Lords (Hereditary Peers) Bill Explained)

It's this latter commitment that the new government appears to be treating with more

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S… Speaker 1 (The House of Lords (Hereditary Peers) Bill Explained)

urgency, with news last week that they have introduced a new bill to Parliament

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S… Speaker 1 (The House of Lords (Hereditary Peers) Bill Explained)

specifically designed to get rid of the final 92 hereditary

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S… Speaker 1 (The House of Lords (Hereditary Peers) Bill Explained)

peers.

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S… Speaker 1 (The House of Lords (Hereditary Peers) Bill Explained)

So in this video we're going to explain why there are still 92 hereditary peers

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S… Speaker 1 (The House of Lords (Hereditary Peers) Bill Explained)

in the Lords in the first place,

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S… Speaker 1 (The House of Lords (Hereditary Peers) Bill Explained)

how Starmer's government plans to get rid of them,

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S… Speaker 1 (The House of Lords (Hereditary Peers) Bill Explained)

and some of the arguments for and against his plan.

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S… Speaker 2 (The House of Lords (Hereditary Peers) Bill Explained)

Before we start,

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S… Speaker 1 (The House of Lords (Hereditary Peers) Bill Explained)

if you haven't already please consider subscribing and ringing the bell to stay in the

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S… Speaker 1 (The House of Lords (Hereditary Peers) Bill Explained)

loop and be notified when we release new videos.

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S… Speaker 1 (The House of Lords (Hereditary Peers) Bill Explained)

Now, it's probably best to start this video with a very brief explanation of

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S… Speaker 1 (The House of Lords (Hereditary Peers) Bill Explained)

how appointments to the Lords are actually made.

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S… Speaker 2 (The House of Lords (Hereditary Peers) Bill Explained)

Essentially,

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S… Speaker 1 (The House of Lords (Hereditary Peers) Bill Explained)

there are three main ways someone can be appointed to the House of Lords.

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S… Speaker 1 (The House of Lords (Hereditary Peers) Bill Explained)

The first is through a political appointment.

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S… Speaker 1 (The House of Lords (Hereditary Peers) Bill Explained)

This can either be via a direct ministerial appointment,

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S… Speaker 1 (The House of Lords (Hereditary Peers) Bill Explained)

for example,

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S… Speaker 1 (The House of Lords (Hereditary Peers) Bill Explained)

when a government appoints someone to the Lords so they can serve as minister.

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S… Speaker 1 (The House of Lords (Hereditary Peers) Bill Explained)

Top -up appointments,

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S… Speaker 1 (The House of Lords (Hereditary Peers) Bill Explained)

so when a party tries to increase its size in the Lords.

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S… Speaker 1 (The House of Lords (Hereditary Peers) Bill Explained)

Dissolution honours,

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S… Speaker 1 (The House of Lords (Hereditary Peers) Bill Explained)

when at the end of a Parliament,

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S… Speaker 1 (The House of Lords (Hereditary Peers) Bill Explained)

parties nominate MPs leaving the Commons to the Lords.

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S… Speaker 1 (The House of Lords (Hereditary Peers) Bill Explained)

Or resignation honours,

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S… Speaker 1 (The House of Lords (Hereditary Peers) Bill Explained)

when a resigning Prime Minister appoints allies and colleagues to the Lords.

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S… Speaker 1 (The House of Lords (Hereditary Peers) Bill Explained)

If someone is elevated to the Lords via any of these mechanisms,

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S… Speaker 1 (The House of Lords (Hereditary Peers) Bill Explained)

they'll usually sit as a Lord representing the party that appointed

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S… Speaker 1 (The House of Lords (Hereditary Peers) Bill Explained)

them.

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S… Speaker 1 (The House of Lords (Hereditary Peers) Bill Explained)

The second main way to be appointed to the House of Lords is via the House of Lords

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S… Speaker 1 (The House of Lords (Hereditary Peers) Bill Explained)

Appointment Commission,

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S… Speaker 1 (The House of Lords (Hereditary Peers) Bill Explained)

or HOLAC,

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S… Speaker 1 (The House of Lords (Hereditary Peers) Bill Explained)

which is an independent body that usually recommends experts to the

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S… Speaker 1 (The House of Lords (Hereditary Peers) Bill Explained)

House of Lords.

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S… Speaker 1 (The House of Lords (Hereditary Peers) Bill Explained)

Unlike political appointments,

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S… Speaker 1 (The House of Lords (Hereditary Peers) Bill Explained)

members usually then sit as independents,

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S… Speaker 1 (The House of Lords (Hereditary Peers) Bill Explained)

although in the House of Lords,

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S… Speaker 1 (The House of Lords (Hereditary Peers) Bill Explained)

this is referred to as being a crossbencher.

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S… Speaker 1 (The House of Lords (Hereditary Peers) Bill Explained)

The third way to be appointed is on the basis of your status as a

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S… Speaker 2 (The House of Lords (Hereditary Peers) Bill Explained)

hereditary peer.

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S… Speaker 1 (The House of Lords (Hereditary Peers) Bill Explained)

Previously, hereditary peers had an automatic right to sit in the House of

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S… Speaker 1 (The House of Lords (Hereditary Peers) Bill Explained)

Lords, meaning that,

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S… Speaker 1 (The House of Lords (Hereditary Peers) Bill Explained)

prior to a significant change we'll get onto in a second,

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S… Speaker 1 (The House of Lords (Hereditary Peers) Bill Explained)

around 750 people were able to effect legislation on

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S… Speaker 1 (The House of Lords (Hereditary Peers) Bill Explained)

the basis of which family they were born into.

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S… Speaker 2 (The House of Lords (Hereditary Peers) Bill Explained)

However,

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S… Speaker 1 (The House of Lords (Hereditary Peers) Bill Explained)

in 1997,

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S… Speaker 1 (The House of Lords (Hereditary Peers) Bill Explained)

in the run -up to the general election,

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S… Speaker 1 (The House of Lords (Hereditary Peers) Bill Explained)

Tony Blair's Labour Party promised to end the right of hereditary peers to

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S… Speaker 1 (The House of Lords (Hereditary Peers) Bill Explained)

sit and vote in the House of Lords.

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S… Speaker 2 (The House of Lords (Hereditary Peers) Bill Explained)

In order to do this,

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S… Speaker 1 (The House of Lords (Hereditary Peers) Bill Explained)

in 1999,

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S… Speaker 1 (The House of Lords (Hereditary Peers) Bill Explained)

they passed the House of Lords Act,

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S… Speaker 1 (The House of Lords (Hereditary Peers) Bill Explained)

which removed the automatic qualification for hereditary peers to

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S… Speaker 1 (The House of Lords (Hereditary Peers) Bill Explained)

sit in the Lords.

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S… Speaker 1 (The House of Lords (Hereditary Peers) Bill Explained)

However,

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S… Speaker 1 (The House of Lords (Hereditary Peers) Bill Explained)

as a result of a compromise when passing the law,

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S… Speaker 1 (The House of Lords (Hereditary Peers) Bill Explained)

92 hereditary peers were allowed to retain the right to sit

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S… Speaker 1 (The House of Lords (Hereditary Peers) Bill Explained)

and vote in the House of Lords.

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S… Speaker 1 (The House of Lords (Hereditary Peers) Bill Explained)

This is known as the Wetherill Amendment.

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S… Speaker 1 (The House of Lords (Hereditary Peers) Bill Explained)

Now,

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S… Speaker 1 (The House of Lords (Hereditary Peers) Bill Explained)

it's important here to understand exactly how the Wetherill Amendment works.

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S… Speaker 1 (The House of Lords (Hereditary Peers) Bill Explained)

Instead of just allowing 92 random hereditary peers to continue working

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S… Speaker 1 (The House of Lords (Hereditary Peers) Bill Explained)

in the Lords until they die,

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S… Speaker 1 (The House of Lords (Hereditary Peers) Bill Explained)

and letting the number of voting peers slowly drop,

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S… Speaker 1 (The House of Lords (Hereditary Peers) Bill Explained)

it actually specifies mechanisms for selecting new hereditary

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S… Speaker 1 (The House of Lords (Hereditary Peers) Bill Explained)

peers when one dies or resigns.

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S… Speaker 1 (The House of Lords (Hereditary Peers) Bill Explained)

The effect is,

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S… Speaker 1 (The House of Lords (Hereditary Peers) Bill Explained)

unless changed,

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S… Speaker 1 (The House of Lords (Hereditary Peers) Bill Explained)

there will always be 92 hereditary peers in the House of Lords.

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S… Speaker 2 (The House of Lords (Hereditary Peers) Bill Explained)

Now,

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S… Speaker 1 (The House of Lords (Hereditary Peers) Bill Explained)

specifically, it states that two are elected by Labour hereditary peers,

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S… Speaker 1 (The House of Lords (Hereditary Peers) Bill Explained)

42 are elected by Conservative hereditary peers,

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S… Speaker 1 (The House of Lords (Hereditary Peers) Bill Explained)

28 by independent or,

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S… Speaker 1 (The House of Lords (Hereditary Peers) Bill Explained)

as we explained earlier,

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S… Speaker 1 (The House of Lords (Hereditary Peers) Bill Explained)

crossbench hereditary peers,

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S… Speaker 1 (The House of Lords (Hereditary Peers) Bill Explained)

3 Liberal Democrat hereditary peers,

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S… Speaker 1 (The House of Lords (Hereditary Peers) Bill Explained)

and 15 peers who were elected by the whole House,

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S… Speaker 1 (The House of Lords (Hereditary Peers) Bill Explained)

not just hereditary peers.

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S… Speaker 1 (The House of Lords (Hereditary Peers) Bill Explained)

Now, the keen mathematicians amongst you will realise that there are two sitting

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S… Speaker 1 (The House of Lords (Hereditary Peers) Bill Explained)

and voting hereditary peers still not accounted for.

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S… Speaker 1 (The House of Lords (Hereditary Peers) Bill Explained)

These are reserved for people who hold specific offices known as the Earl

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S… Speaker 1 (The House of Lords (Hereditary Peers) Bill Explained)

Marshall and the Lord Great Chamberlain.

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S… Speaker 1 (The House of Lords (Hereditary Peers) Bill Explained)

For the sake of time and interest in the video,

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S… Speaker 1 (The House of Lords (Hereditary Peers) Bill Explained)

we're not going to be going into them here.

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S… Speaker 2 (The House of Lords (Hereditary Peers) Bill Explained)

Now,

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S… Speaker 1 (The House of Lords (Hereditary Peers) Bill Explained)

you're probably thinking to yourself right now that this is a hugely messy

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S… Speaker 1 (The House of Lords (Hereditary Peers) Bill Explained)

system, and we wouldn't really disagree with you.

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S… Speaker 1 (The House of Lords (Hereditary Peers) Bill Explained)

really is.

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S… Speaker 1 (The House of Lords (Hereditary Peers) Bill Explained)

However it was only ever intended to be an interim measure

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S… Speaker 1 (The House of Lords (Hereditary Peers) Bill Explained)

and was only really included to help the bill pass through the Lords.

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S… Speaker 1 (The House of Lords (Hereditary Peers) Bill Explained)

In fact in a statement in the Lords discussing the plans outlined in the Wetherill

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S… Speaker 1 (The House of Lords (Hereditary Peers) Bill Explained)

amendment the then Labour Chancellor Lord Irvine of Laig explained that any suggestion

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S… Speaker 1 (The House of Lords (Hereditary Peers) Bill Explained)

the Labour government would fail to keep its promise in the manifesto to ultimately end

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S… Speaker 1 (The House of Lords (Hereditary Peers) Bill Explained)

the right of hereditary peers to sit and vote in parliament were fanciful.

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S… Speaker 1 (The House of Lords (Hereditary Peers) Bill Explained)

As it turned out,

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S… Speaker 1 (The House of Lords (Hereditary Peers) Bill Explained)

such suggestions were not fanciful,

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S… Speaker 1 (The House of Lords (Hereditary Peers) Bill Explained)

and to this day,

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S… Speaker 1 (The House of Lords (Hereditary Peers) Bill Explained)

92 hereditary peers still sit in the House of Lords.

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S… Speaker 1 (The House of Lords (Hereditary Peers) Bill Explained)

In fact,

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S… Speaker 1 (The House of Lords (Hereditary Peers) Bill Explained)

in November last year,

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S… Speaker 1 (The House of Lords (Hereditary Peers) Bill Explained)

a by -election took place following the death of Lord Brougham of Vokes.

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S… Speaker 1 (The House of Lords (Hereditary Peers) Bill Explained)

This was a by -election in which the whole House was eligible to vote,

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S… Speaker 1 (The House of Lords (Hereditary Peers) Bill Explained)

and Lord Camoyes was selected to replace him in the Lords.

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S… Speaker 1 (The House of Lords (Hereditary Peers) Bill Explained)

Additionally, there are actually still two vacancies,

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S… Speaker 1 (The House of Lords (Hereditary Peers) Bill Explained)

with the Earl of Sandwich,

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S… Speaker 1 (The House of Lords (Hereditary Peers) Bill Explained)

yes, that's his actual title,

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S… Speaker 1 (The House of Lords (Hereditary Peers) Bill Explained)

retiring on the 20th of May this year,

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S… Speaker 1 (The House of Lords (Hereditary Peers) Bill Explained)

leaving a crossbench vacancy open,

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S… Speaker 1 (The House of Lords (Hereditary Peers) Bill Explained)

and the Lord Willoughby de Broek being removed due to non -attendance,

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S… Speaker 1 (The House of Lords (Hereditary Peers) Bill Explained)

leaving a Conservative vacancy open.

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S… Speaker 2 (The House of Lords (Hereditary Peers) Bill Explained)

Usually,

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S… Speaker 1 (The House of Lords (Hereditary Peers) Bill Explained)

these by -elections take place within three months.

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S… Speaker 1 (The House of Lords (Hereditary Peers) Bill Explained)

However, as the Lords anticipate that the system might soon be abolished,

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S… Speaker 1 (The House of Lords (Hereditary Peers) Bill Explained)

they've extended the deadline to 18 months.

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S… Speaker 1 (The House of Lords (Hereditary Peers) Bill Explained)

Now, this brings us nicely back to the government's plans for the sitting and voting hereditary

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S… Speaker 1 (The House of Lords (Hereditary Peers) Bill Explained)

peers.

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S… Speaker 1 (The House of Lords (Hereditary Peers) Bill Explained)

As we mentioned in the introduction,

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S… Speaker 1 (The House of Lords (Hereditary Peers) Bill Explained)

Labour are planning on removing these peers from the House of Lords,

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S… Speaker 1 (The House of Lords (Hereditary Peers) Bill Explained)

effectively finishing the job that the last Labour government started 25 years

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S… Speaker 1 (The House of Lords (Hereditary Peers) Bill Explained)

ago.

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S… Speaker 2 (The House of Lords (Hereditary Peers) Bill Explained)

Last week,

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S… Speaker 1 (The House of Lords (Hereditary Peers) Bill Explained)

Pat McFadden,

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S… Speaker 1 (The House of Lords (Hereditary Peers) Bill Explained)

the current Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster,

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S… Speaker 1 (The House of Lords (Hereditary Peers) Bill Explained)

introduced the Hereditary Peers Abolition Bill,

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S… Speaker 1 (The House of Lords (Hereditary Peers) Bill Explained)

which aims to do this by amending the House of Lords Act of 1999.

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S… Speaker 1 (The House of Lords (Hereditary Peers) Bill Explained)

Section 1 of the Hereditary Peers Abolition Bill literally just removed Section

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S… Speaker 1 (The House of Lords (Hereditary Peers) Bill Explained)

2 of the House of Lords Act,

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S… Speaker 1 (The House of Lords (Hereditary Peers) Bill Explained)

the bit that specifies which peers are still able to sit in the Lords and how

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S… Speaker 1 (The House of Lords (Hereditary Peers) Bill Explained)

by -elections can be held.

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S… Speaker 1 (The House of Lords (Hereditary Peers) Bill Explained)

Now, it's worth mentioning that the bill has only been introduced in the House of Commons

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S… Speaker 1 (The House of Lords (Hereditary Peers) Bill Explained)

and is not law yet.

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S… Speaker 1 (The House of Lords (Hereditary Peers) Bill Explained)

There's still a long journey it has to go on in order to become law,

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S… Speaker 1 (The House of Lords (Hereditary Peers) Bill Explained)

and there will undoubtedly be some bumps along the way,

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S… Speaker 1 (The House of Lords (Hereditary Peers) Bill Explained)

especially as it has to go through the Lords itself.

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S… Speaker 1 (The House of Lords (Hereditary Peers) Bill Explained)

In fact, some Lords have already stated their opposition to it,

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S… Speaker 1 (The House of Lords (Hereditary Peers) Bill Explained)

with Conservative Lord Strathclyde,

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S… Speaker 1 (The House of Lords (Hereditary Peers) Bill Explained)

one of the 92 sitting and voting hereditary Peers,

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S… Speaker 1 (The House of Lords (Hereditary Peers) Bill Explained)

describing it as a high -handed,

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S… Speaker 1 (The House of Lords (Hereditary Peers) Bill Explained)

shoddy political act,

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S… Speaker 1 (The House of Lords (Hereditary Peers) Bill Explained)

and Conservative Peer Lord Forsyth describing it as a naked attempt

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S… Speaker 1 (The House of Lords (Hereditary Peers) Bill Explained)

to disable opposition in the House of Lords.

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S… Speaker 2 (The House of Lords (Hereditary Peers) Bill Explained)

Now,

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S… Speaker 1 (The House of Lords (Hereditary Peers) Bill Explained)

we'll have to see exactly how much opposition it faces when it does eventually make

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S… Speaker 1 (The House of Lords (Hereditary Peers) Bill Explained)

it to the House of Lords.

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S… Speaker 2 (The House of Lords (Hereditary Peers) Bill Explained)

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S… Speaker 1 (The House of Lords (Hereditary Peers) Bill Explained)

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S… Speaker 1 (The House of Lords (Hereditary Peers) Bill Explained)

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