Labor plans to expand the House of Lords before abolishing it

Control it first and only then cancel it. This is the plan you have for House of Lords labor leader Keir Starmerwho, if they win the next general election, plan to increase their membership to usurp the majority the Conservatives currently hold and prevent them from blocking their government agenda.

The proposal appears to be at odds with Starmer’s pledge at the end of 2022 to abolish the unelected parliamentary body, whose members are for life, and replace it with a smaller one whose members are elected by universal, direct and secret ballot. For this reason, other opposition groups such as the independent Scottish Nationalist Party (SNP) have described the idea as a demonstration of “hypocrisy”.

Labor assures that their position remains the same and that the initiative will be a tactical move, since the replacement of the instance will not happen immediately and that it will take “reforms”, that it will only work if the current balance of power changes. “Right now there are 90 more Conservatives than Labour [en la Cámara de los Lores]. The priority for Keir will be to ensure that Labour’s agenda is approved,” Labor leader of the House of Lords Angela Smith told Times Radio.

Sources close to Starmer gave the same explanation. “The party that comes into government at the next election will not be the largest party in the House of Lords. This is something that has happened throughout history (…) This would open the door to a future conservative opposition with a larger and younger group of Lords to make our lives miserable. So, of course, we will ask for new appointments, because the priority is for the laws we present to be adopted,” the party explained.

Currently, the House of Lords has over 779 members, of which 174 are Labor, 263 the tories, 84 liberal democrats and 183 independent or openly militant in a political organization. This month alone, seven new Lords were appointed, all chosen by former Prime Minister Boris Johnson.

In contrast, the House of Commons, whose members are elected by vote, has 650 members.

Last December the Labor Party presented a report entitled New Britain (new United Kingdom), in which the proposal to eliminate the House of Lords was dusted off.

During Tony Blair’s government, the instance was reformed to remove powers such as that of settling institutional controversies, a task entrusted to the then new Supreme Court. Starmer finds it “indefensible” that the UK still has an unelected body whose members are for life.