UK ends centuries-old hereditary seats in parliament

Britain’s parliament has passed legislation to remove remaining hereditary peers from the House of Lords, ending a centuries-old system of aristocratic seats in the upper house that the government says should not be secured by birth.

The House of Lords passed the Hereditary Peers Bill on Tuesday evening, fulfilling a reform introduced more than 25 years ago and a key manifesto pledge from Prime Minister Keir Starmer’s Labor government to modernize the upper house.

The leader of the upper house, Angela Smith, said on Tuesday that the Lords “play a vital role in our bicameral parliament, but no one should sit in the House because of an inherited title.”

“The passage of this bill is an important first step towards reforming the Lords and will be followed by further changes, including to members’ retirement and participation conditions,” he said.

Before the reform, 92 hereditary peers could still sit and vote in the upper house; this number was retained as a temporary compromise following the sacking of more than 600 people in 1999 by former Labor prime minister Tony Blair, who described the hereditary system as an “anachronism”.

Under the system, around 15 Conservative hereditary peers will receive lifetime peerage, and the party will decide who to nominate.

The ornate red and gold chamber in the Palace of Westminster has around 800 members in total; most of these are appointed for life by the prime minister on the advice of bishops of the Church of England, as well as political parties or an independent commission, and so far some have been appointed by birthright.

Critics have long called for an overhaul of the appointment system, saying it leads to cronyism and creates the world’s largest upper house, larger than the 650 elected members of parliament who sit in the lower house.

The Lords can amend but not block legislation, and changes to bills can be rejected by the elected lower house.