Plaid peer urges Labour to honour pledge to replace House of Lords

Nation.Cymru staff

Plaid Cymru peer Carmen Smith has urged Labour to honour its pledge to replace the House of Lords as her proposals for consultation reach their next parliamentary stage.

The House of Lords (Alternative Second Chamber) Bill is due to receive its second reading on Friday, October 23.

It would establish a framework for the UK Government to consult on replacing the Lords. It would not itself abolish the existing chamber or introduce an elected replacement.

Labour’s 2024 manifesto committed the party to consulting on an alternative second chamber that would be “more representative of the regions and nations”.

“I have been clear from the outset that the House of Lords is an undemocratic, unrepresentative institution that must be replaced with an alternative second chamber,” Ms Smith said.

“While a second chamber does have a key part to play in scrutinising legislation, the House of Lords lacks the transparency, accountability and democratic legitimacy needed to effectively serve the people of these isles.”

Ms Smith, who entered the Lords in spring 2024, has previously said she intends to help abolish the institution from within, including her own position.

“My Bill simply calls on the UK Government to honour its own promise and to get the ball rolling because this cannot be another report gathering dust on a Whitehall shelf – it must deliver the change we need,” she said.

Ms Smith also urged Prime Minister Andy Burnham to include Lords reform in his wider constitutional plans.

“Andy Burnham has spoken of rewiring the country and shifting power away from Westminster,” she said.

“Having already committed to further devolution in England and a consultation on proportional representation, now is the time to bring House of Lords reform into that same conversation.”

The debate follows legislation removing the remaining hereditary peers’ right to sit and vote in the Lords. Some former hereditary members have subsequently received life peerages, allowing them to remain in the chamber.

The Electoral Reform Society has argued that ending hereditary membership should be the start of wider reform, calling for a smaller, fully elected second chamber.

The campaign group also says a replacement could give the UK’s nations and regions a stronger voice at Westminster.

Its analysis of peers’ recorded places of residence in 2024 found that 44% of those for whom information was available lived in London or the south-east of England.

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