NEARLY 100 members of the House of Lords are paid to give political or policy advice by commercial firms, a fresh investigation is set to reveal.
The months-long probe by The Guardian has also reportedly unearthed how a Labour peer was offered access to ministers during discussions to sponsor an event in Parliament and how an ex-minister has earned millions of pounds since entering the Lords by working for 30 companies.
The investigation has found multiple peers are being paid by foreign governments including repressive regimes, while more than £1 in every £14 donated to political parties since 2001 came from those who have sat as peers in the last parliament.
The probe is set to raise questions over the coming weeks on the accountability of the UK Parliament’s second chamber, exposing weaknesses in the Lords code of conduct and highlighting the need to reform.
The number of Lords members has ballooned over recent years to 835 after a succession of prime ministers have packed the house with donors and party loyalists.
Labour have pledged changes repeatedly and Keir Starmer has described the Lords previously as “indefensible”, but there has so far been no sign of any reform.
On the revelations, Darren Hughes, the chief executive of the Electoral Reform Society, said: “The Lords should not be a political gated community filled with party donors, as well as friends and supporters of various prime ministers.
“These revelations again underscore the urgent need for Lords reform so there is far greater transparency and accountability to guard against conflicts of interest, which risk further corroding the public’s already rock-bottom trust in politics.”
Starmer appointed a string of allies and former advises to the Lords earlier this year – including his former chief of staff Sue Gray (below) – in a bid to help get legislation through.
The plan was supposed to address concerns over a lack of equal representation in the Lords, where 69% of members are men. The median age of peers in the current parliament is also 71 – four years older than the state pension age – and 51% are privately educated, compared with 6.5% of the population of England as a whole.
Starmer once said: “I think the House of Lords is indefensible.
“So we want to abolish the House of Lords and replace it with an elected chamber that has a really strong mission.”
Ministers are in the process of removing the remaining 92 hereditary peers, but changes beyond this promised in the Labour manifesto, including setting minimum levels of attendance and a consultation on replacing the chamber, are yet to materialise.
None of the proposed changes would tighten the rules on lobbying and paid employment.
Peers receive expenses rather than a salary like MPs, and more often hold outside roles, without generally having to declare how much they are paid.
MPs are banned from working as parliamentary strategists or consultants and cannot advise on “public policy” and how parliament works in general but this has not been extended to the Lords.
Peers are not permitted to undertake “paid parliamentary advice or services”, meaning they cannot conduct, or advise on, lobbying or try to influence ministers, officials or parliamentarians on behalf of a company that pays them.
However, a number of Lords describe their jobs as advisers or consultants for companies, providing political or policy advice, which is permitted under the rules.
The government is still on paper committed to overhauling the rules on appointments to reduce the number of peers selected through political patronage.
Each year, party leaders nominate lists of candidates to be approved by the monarch. Many are chosen on the basis of previous service as MPs or in local government, or after making significant financial donations.
