Welsh Lib Dem peers are facing extinction

Martin Shipton

Welsh Liberal Democrats are angry because for the 13th year running, none of them have been nominated for seats in the House of Lords.

Five new Lib Dem peers have been created after being nominated by party leader Sir Ed Davey, but they are all from England.

The Welsh Liberal Democrats currently have four members of the House of Lords: Baroness Christine Humphreys, who is 79; Lord Martin Thomas, who is 89; Lord Mike German, who is 81, and Lord Roger Roberts, who is 90.

Professor Russell Deacon, author of the History of Welsh Liberalism said “The Liberal Democrats are a federal party with equality meant to be spread between England, Wales and Scotland but this seems to have been forgotten and in the House of Lords it’s very much an English Party!

“Not long ago there were six Welsh peers from Wales representing the Liberal Democrats; after the next general election because they can no longer attend after the age of 80 they will become extinct. This does not bode well for the future of Liberalism in Wales.”

Under new proposals published this week, peers who fail to turn up regularly enough to the House of Lords could be kicked out of Parliament.

In its 2024 manifesto, Labour promised to introduce a retirement age and participation requirement for members of the upper chamber and a Lords committee was set up to recommend ways of implementing the change.

In its report,, the committee recommended phasing in a retirement age of 80 and requiring members to attend at least 20% of sitting days.

Committee chair Baroness Taylor of Bolton said the move was a “practical solution” that would ensure the “continued effective functioning of the House”.

A government spokesperson said: “Introducing a retirement age and participation requirement to the House of Lords is a manifesto commitment, and we will therefore carefully consider the committee’s recommendations ahead of the government’s response later this year.”

There have been concern for many years about the size of the House of Lords, which currently stands at 774, making it one of the largest upper parliamentary houses in the world.

Earlier this year, the numbers were slightly reduced after 92 hereditary peers – those who inherited their place in the House of Lords from their parents – were removed, although 15 were subsequently given life peerages.

The House of Lords Retirement and Participation Committee recommended that a new retirement age of 80 should apply to all existing members “without exception”.

However, it said that in order to avoid a “cliff edge” with several peers leaving at the same time, the retirement threshold should be phased in gradually.

Under the proposals, the latest age at which a peer should retire would be set at 85 from 8 July 2029 and then reduced by one year annually, eventually reaching 80 by July 2034.

New members would be asked to agree in writing that they would retire by their 80th birthday.

Currently peers are required to attend the House of Lords at least once in a session.

The committee said this was “too low and reform is necessary”. It recommended increasing the threshold to 20% of sitting days, averaged out over two sessions.

Short-term absences

The number of days in a parliamentary session vary but over the last 10 years have been an average of around 170 days.

The committee said it recognised that “short-term absences may arise without notice in cases of emergency or on compassionate grounds,” adding: “Such circumstances should be taken into account to ensure that members are not inappropriately penalised for failing to meet the attendance threshold.”

A House of Lords briefing has estimated that by July 2029, 301 life peers would be aged over 80.

The average age of current members of the House of Lords is 70.

Grateful

A Liberal Democrat spokesperson said: “The Liberal Democrats are a proud federal party, and we are immensely grateful for the important work of our current Welsh peers. We’re winning again in Wales with David Chadwick doing a brilliant job for the people of Brecon, Radnor and Cwm Tawe in Parliament.

“The five new Liberal Democrat peers we have appointed join a strong team who fight day in, day out for the interests of people across all nations and regions of the UK.”

A Lib Dem source pointed out that the Liberal Democrats actually had no new appointments at all to the House of Lords between mid-2015 and mid-2024.

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