Political parties will have to justify why they want to appoint someone to the House of Lords from now on, the Government has announced.
The move comes after several of former Conservative prime minister Boris Johnson’s appointments to Parliament’s upper house were met with criticism.
In a written statement, Cabinet Office minister Nick Thomas-Symonds said political parties “will be required to provide citations when making nominations for appointment to the House of Lords, summarising why an individual has been put forward” from Thursday.
From today political parties will need to provide a citation for each of their nominees, which will be published on gov.uk on successful appointment
He added: “It is for party leaders to consider who is best placed to represent their party in the House of Lords when nominating individuals for appointment to the upper House.
“From today political parties will need to provide a citation for each of their nominees, which will be published on gov.uk on successful appointment.”
A Labour source said: “There were big questions about why on earth Boris Johnson was giving certain individuals seats in the House of Lords.
“Now parties will have to be upfront about the peerages they are creating as we rebuild trust in politics.”
Questions were raised about Mr Johnson’s decision to appoint both Baroness Owen of Alderley Edge – 30 years old when she was ennobled – and Lord Kempsell to the Lords.
Both had worked as advisers in the Johnson government.
Security concerns were also aired when Mr Johnson nominated newspaper proprietor Lord Lebedev for a peerage in 2020, as the crossbencher’s father was once a KGB agent.
It just shouldn’t be the case in a modern legislature that there are places reserved for people by accident of birth
Under the new system, parties will have to provide a brief summary of why they have nominated someone for a peerage to the House of Lords Appointments Commission (Holac).
The Government will “keep the appointments system under review as we progress wider reforms to the House of Lords”, Mr Thomas-Symonds’ statement also said.
Since coming to power, Labour has started to enact its reforms of the House of Lords it promised in its election manifesto.
This includes stripping out the remaining places for hereditary peers reserved in the upper chamber.
In the House of Commons on Thursday, Mr Thomas-Symonds said ministers wanted to see this law change made “as soon as possible”.
He told MPs: “It just shouldn’t be the case in a modern legislature that there are places reserved for people by accident of birth.
“That Bill has now passed this House, unamended.
“As I’ve indicated it will now go before the other place for its second reading next week, of course, we want to get that Bill on to the statute book as soon as possible.”
