Plaid Cymru call for abolishment of House of Lords
Stephen Price
Plaid Cymru peer, Carmen Smith will present a Bill to the House of Lords for its first reading today, calling for the ‘undemocratic, unrepresentative and outdated’ institution to be ‘abolished’ in line with the 2024 Labour manifesto.
The Private Member’s Bill from Baroness Smith of Llanfaes aims to establish a framework for the Secretary of State to consult stakeholders on the replacement of the House of Lords with an alternative second chamber, as outlined in Labour’s 2024 manifesto which pledged an immediate modernisation of the House of Lords by removing hereditary peers and introducing a mandatory retirement age.
The Labour Party’s manifesto pledge also detailed a long-term commitment to consult the public on replacing the upper house with an alternative, democratically elected second chamber.
Baroness Smith’s ‘House of Lords (Alternative Second Chamber) Bill’ imposes a duty on the Secretary of State to run a public consultation, as well as consult representatives of the devolved administrations, constitutional experts, and the EHRC on these principles.
The Plaid Cymru peer has described the House of Lords as undemocratic, unrepresentative and outdated. She also said that her intentions of “abolishing and replacing” the House of Lords with an alternative second chamber were made clear when she became a member just over two years ago.
Speaking ahead of the Bill’s first reading, Plaid Cymru peer, Carmen Smith said: “The House of Lords is an outdated institution that has no place in a modern democracy.
“Around 70 per cent of its members are men, and the average age is 71. No one can claim that this chamber is representative of the society it is supposed to serve. Nor can it be described as democratic when none of its members are directly elected by the public.
“Recent scandals involving figures such as Lord Mandelson have further exposed the fundamental problems at the heart of the House of Lords – lack of accountability, a culture of patronage, and a real disconnect from reality.
“It is therefore no surprise that trust in politics remains so low while institutions such as the House of Lords continue to operate untouched. If we are serious about restoring faith in our democracy, then reform is absolutely necessary.
“When I first entered the House of Lords over two years ago, I made it clear that my intention was to abolish this second chamber in its current form and replace it with one that is democratic, accountable, and truly representative of the people of these islands. This Bill represents the first necessary steps towards achieving my ambitions.
“It is disappointing that the current Labour UK Government has rolled back on earlier commitments to abolish and replace the Lords, despite the Prime Minister himself once describing the institution as “indefensible”. I urge the UK Government to reflect seriously on the lack of trust in our politics and recognise that this Bill is a genuine opportunity to implement the reform that is needed to strengthen our democracy.”
Support
The Bill is supported by the Electoral Reform Society which has long advocated for an elected second chamber.
Dr. Jess Garland, Director of Policy and Research for the ERS has today said: “The House of Lords in its current form is indefensible.
“We agree with the principles outlined in the 2024 Labour manifesto. The British public deserves an elected second chamber which is representative of the regions and nations of this country and democratically accountable to the people it serves.
“The public view is clear; research shows that only one in six people support the House of Lords remaining in its current form.
“This Bill is a welcome step towards a more democratic and legitimate second chamber.”
The Prime Minister has appointed a total of 65 peers since Labour entered Government, according to parliamentary data.
Hereditary peers in the House of Lords left their red leather benches for the final time in April 2026.
The majority of such peers, who inherit their titles through their families, lost the right to sit in the Lords in 1999, but 92 remained after a compromise deal with the Conservatives.
Further reform of the Lords is proposed, with a select committee due to report by the end of July on the introduction of a participation requirement and a retirement age.
There have been long-standing concerns about the size of the House and calls to reduce its membership. This has been accompanied by frustrations at peers who rarely attend or only turn up to claim the daily allowance of £371.
It has fuelled claims some use the House as a glorified members’ club at taxpayers’ expense.
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Ask 1,000 working class people of varying backgrounds whether they feel the House of Frauds represents them and you will receive a resounding “no” 1,000 times.
Once the Lords has been replaced by an upper house truly democratically elected and not by first past the post what are we going to do about the undemocratic House of Commons which is castrated by the requirement that the PM has to command a majority in it so it is made up of yes men and nodders on the government benches?
It needs to be gone as quickly as possible,it,s seriously out dated and out of touch.
In defence, the HoL is not an upper chamber in sense of US Senate or Bundesrat; its primary role is scrutiny and revision, with only limited delaying powers and very little ability to initiate legislation. It’s primarily a revising chamber and benefits from experienced people from world of business, our society and politics who can spot flaws that our inexperienced/fiarly useless MPs may miss or not fully understand. The downsides of having it elected is it’ll probably have elections mid-parliament so you’ll end up with a protest vote, which would mean it’s stuffed full of lib dems and reform lords,… Read more »
Frankly it should be a mixture of cross bench appointees and elected individuals to keep no one party in a majority without a massive swing.
Not a bad suggestion, I would be happy with that. It’s worth remembering -n o system is going to be 100% perfect.
In my view, any constitutional change should be considered carefully – a commission would be needed. And any change would have take place over 5-10 years.
But one of my main hang-ups is – ‘would a change actually make any difference?’ I doubt lord reform will make any difference whatsoever to outcomes of westminster
I disagree with appointees. That’s what happens now. HoL is filled with political cronies
Elfyn would’ve been in there had the party not rigged the internal ballot in the name of affirmative action, and I say that as a Plaid member.
Everyone can agree it needs replacing. No-one can agree what should replace it.
MPs are our elected representatives. We don’t need to duplicate that.
I do not agree, it should not be replaced, just scrapped…
Plaid Cymru peer, Carmen Smith will present a Bill to the House of Lords for its first reading today, calling for the ‘undemocratic, unrepresentative and outdated’ institution to be ‘abolished’ in line with the 2024 Labour manifesto.
Plaid and labour with the same aims
Absolutely spot on the hard of thinking constantly bang on about the size of the Senedd but it’s a fraction of the size of the House of Frauds and at least the Senedd democratically elects everyone who sits there
HoL costs about 2 pounds per person per year. Senedd costs 25 pounds per person per year.
completely useless data without context, but still interesting
£371 per day = £1855 per week = £74,200 for 40 weeks.
754 to 800 members = £55,946,800 per year approx if everyone turned up.
Not forgetting ALL the other fringe benefits (food,drinks, etc.)
They only turn up when they need to be they are so it’s not full time.
Some don’t take the allowance.
Lords members don’t have personal advisers, SPADs, constituency offices.
Admin, IT etc is pooled with HoC.
In terms of value for money, it’s quite good.
The House of Lords should be replaced by an elected second chamber that has equal numbers of members from Scotland, Wales, England and Northern Ireland (like the Senate in the USA where each state has 2 members whatever its population). This would to some degree offset England’s enormous and unassailable dominance in the current Houses of Parliament where 84% of MPs represent constituencies in England.
Bring back hereditary peers.
The HoL might have had a future if it had truly been populated with the great and the good, and with people with genuine expertise that was of use to the nation.
Unfortunately, it has been used as a ‘reward’ for services rendered &/or personal friendship and has been stuffed with sycophants, party donors and random god- botherers
I’m an Indy supporter. I’ve got no interest in fixing Westminster. The fact it doesn’t work literally fuels our movement and therefor Plaid.
We as a movement should be BEYOND caring about this. It doesn’t work, we want to leave.
I think modern forward thinking countries like Cymru should distance themselves from the old Hogwarts style nonsense of silly hats and castles.
I get it that the English are into it, but as you correctly point out, we shouldn’t be anywhere near it.
Until Wales is independent (which may never happen) residents of Wales and the rest of the UK will suffer with second rate governance.
The cost of living crisis was a political choice and I don’t trust the current system to deliver the wholesale change that working people need so if we want meaningful improvements to people’s lives we need to change the systems first.
Obviously if independence is achieved it won’t affect us, but I don’t see that happening for at least another 15 years and many can’t wait that long for living standards to improve.
Leaving without reforming means having a bad neighbour. Bad neighbours ruin lives.
The House of Lords is an archaic undemocratic talking shop and should be abolished, with the building repurposed and the money spent added to the block funding and fairly shared between the nations of Britain.
We Do Not want a replacement for the scrapped house of lords..but the second house could become a museum of politics, for tourists to visit, giving the commons more room for offices..