The end of the peer show
4/30/202617 min
Hereditary peers have left their red leather benches for the final time. The House of Lords (Hereditary Peers) Act became law earlier this year, which removes all hereditary peers' right to speak and vote in Parliament by virtue of their family ties. Critics have described their role as indefensible, but others accuse Labour of political point-scoring and vandalising the upper house – removing a 'living part of Britain's constitutional inheritance'.
James Heale and Megan McElroy discuss – joined by Lord Strathclyde and Lord Courtenay.
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First 90 secondsSpeaker 00:00
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Colton Pace0:19
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Megan McElroy· Host0:29
[upbeat music] Hello, and welcome to Coffee House Shots. I'm Megan McElroy, and I'm joined today by James Hill. Now, James, we've been out and about again today.
James Heale· Host0:44
Hmm.
Megan McElroy· Host0:45
Because a thousand years of history has just come to an end. Tell us more.
James Heale· Host0:48
Yeah, that's right. Uh, the Labor government came in on a manifesto in 2024 to get rid of the last remaining hereditary peers from the upper house. This is, in their view, a culmination of the reforms enacted by Tony Blair in the late 1990s, uh, under which the, almost all the hereditary peers were expelled, about 90% of them. A small tranche, uh, 92 of them were allowed to stay on. These would be replaced every time one of them died or retired by put- someone who would take their seat in a by-election. The by-elections were suspended after, uh, the 2024 election. Uh, and so that meant it's now about sort of 85 or so hereditaries. Uh, but after two years of debating it, they've now, uh, passed the law. Today is the last day, with the ending of the session of Parliament, and the hereditaries are retiring. And