hereditary peers lost the automatic right to attend the house of lords in 1963.
hereditary peers lost the automatic right to attend the house of lords in 1963.
when did hereditary peers lose the automatic right to attend the house of lords?
1963
in 1999, the house of lords act abolished the automatic right of hereditary peers to sit in the house of lords. out of about 750 hereditary peers, only 92 may sit in the house of lords. the act provides that 90 of those 92 seats are to be elected by other members of the house: 15 by vote of the whole house (including life peers), 42 by the conservative hereditary peers, two by the labour hereditary peers, three by the liberal democrat hereditary peers, and 28 by the crossbench hereditary peers. elections were held in october and november 1999 to choose those initial 90 peers, with all hereditary peers eligible to vote. hereditary peers elected hold their seats until their death, resignation or exclusion for non-attendance (the latter two means introduced by the house of lords reform act 2014), at which point by-elections are held to maintain the number at 92.
hereditary peer
the salisbury convention is an unwritten constitutional convention that the commons, as the elected chamber, has a mandate to pass anything in manifesto without lords veto. this was necessary as the conservative party had an absolute majority in the house of lords, and it was seen as inappropriate for them to use this to block the labour government's policies following their landslide victory in 1945. the life peerages act 1958 enabled the appointment of a new class of peers, who could sit and vote in the house of lords, but the honour and rights would not be hereditary. these were intended to be merit-based, letting in 'the great and the good' from various backgrounds of expertise and experience and ending the exclusively hereditary (and male dominated) composition. since 1965, almost all peerages appointed have been life peerages. however, the system has come under criticism in 'cash for honours' scandals in which those who donate significant sums to political parties may be able to gain membership of the house of lords, undermining its credibility as a revising chamber. the peerage act 1963 allowed hereditary peers to disclaim their peerage, allowing them to vote and stand for elections to the house of commons. it also permitted hereditary peers in the peerage of scotland and female hereditary peers to sit in the house of lords without the election of representative peers as had been the procedure in scotland prior to the act.
reform of the house of lords