Labour’s pledge to abolish the House of Lords has been thrown into question after the party admitted it would have to appoint dozens of new peers whilst prioritising “reforms” of the second chamber.
The party has insisted it still intends to abolish the House of Lords, with Sir Keir Starmer’s spokesman doubling down on the pledge to get rid of the upper house.
But, under the current make-up of the Lords, Labour would need to appoint 90 more peers to be the biggest party and therefore pass its policies through Parliament – casting doubt as to whether this would be feasible within the first five years.
The party said it would be prioritising “reforms” in the first term, leading to speculation the Lords abolition would not happen in the first years of a Labour government but later down the line.
In December Labour vowed to abolish the House of Lords and replace it with an elected “assembly of nations and regions” but there has been speculation as to whether this considerable overhaul would actually happen in the first years of Sir Keir becoming prime minister.
The Labour spokesman said it was still a first-term priority but then admitted the Lords appointments process “is not something that is done in one sort of fell swoop [but] something that takes time, and often takes more than a term in government for that to happen”.
He insisted any new peers would be expected to support Labour policy, including the abolition of the Lords, and batted away suggestions there would be a conflict of interest in this.
The spokesman conceded, however, that reforms could take place before full abolition, such as getting rid of by-elections for the remaining hereditary peers.
“The reform of the House of Lords will be in the first term of a Labour government,” he said, adding: “There may be interim reforms along the way, I’m not ruling that out.”
“Every government when they first come into power do not have a majority within the House of Lords because of the nature of the appointments process,” the spokesman said.
“And every government as a matter of custom and practice looks to make appointments to the House of Lords but it’s not something that’s done in one fell swoop, it’s something that takes time and often takes more than a term in government for that to happen.”
Pressed on whether he was rowing back on the abolition plans, the spokesman denied this and said it was “absolutely necessary that we can get through government business if we are in the position to be lucky enough to be elected government”.
There are currently 779 members in what is one of the world’s biggest upper chambers. In December, Sir Keir said he would aim to abolish the House of Lords and bring about the “biggest transfer of power from Westminster” within his first years in No10.
Under the constitutional change, based on a report of recommendations by former Labour PM Gordon Brown, the party said it would give more powers to local leaders.
At the time, he insisted the report’s recommendations can be delivered within the first term of a Labour government.
But he said there would first be a “consultation” to work out exactly how the “transfer of power” out of Westminster and Whitehall to local authorities will work.