Life Peerages Act 1958 Life Peerages Act 1958 The Life Peerages Act 1958 established the modern standards for the creation of life peers by the monarch of the United Kingdom. This Act was made during the Conservative governments of 1957–1964, when Harold Macmillan was Prime Minister. Elizabeth II had ascended to the throne just over five years before the Act. The Conservatives tried to introduce life peerages to modernise the House of Lords, give it more legitimacy, and respond to a decline in its numbers and attendance. The Labour Party opposed the Life Peerages Bill on Second Reading: Hugh Gaitskell made an impassioned speech
Life Peerages Act 1958 peerages. This gradually diminished the numerical dominance of hereditary peers. The Act allowed for the creation of female peers entitled to sit in the House of Lords. The first such women peers took their seats on 21 October 1958. A life peer is created by the sovereign by Letters Patent under the Great Seal on the advice of the Prime Minister. Before the Act was enacted, former Prime Ministers were usually created Viscounts or Earls (which are hereditary peerages) in recognition of their public service in high office, as were the Viceroys of India and exceptional military or front bench