Hereditary peers — granted membership of Britain’s centuries-old House of Lords by birthright — were expelled from parliament earlier this year under legislation brought in by Keir Starmer.
The passage of that relatively limited change took more than 18 months, and Starmer failed to gain agreement on other reforms to reduce the size of the House, which were in his Labour Party’s election-winning 2024 manifesto. Critics of the Lords have long argued that the upper chamber, whose membership is based on appointment by political parties rather than election, is an anachronism.
‘Quick-ish’ win for Burnham
The proposed reforms are the latest incremental step forward in a long-running struggle to reconstitute the U.K.’s unwieldy upper chamber, and they land at an ideal time for Burnham, who is due to take over from Starmer as prime minister next week.
Burnham has repeatedly argued for abolishing and replacing the House of Lords with an elected body.
If peers sign up to the changes voluntarily, then it will save Burnham’s busy new administration the job of passing primary legislation through parliament. If, however, he needs to enact it in law, then several supporters suggested it could represent an early slam-dunk in the quest to downsize the Lords.
One senior Labour official said tightening the rules on age and participation could “deliver a quick-ish win” for Burnham while more ambitious reforms “would be likely to need manifesto cover following hard yards of policy work.”