KEIR Starmer’s government is planning to create as many as 200 new Labour peers despite previous pledges to abolish the chamber, according to reports.
The Sun quoted insiders in the party as saying: “Downing Street wants lots more peers who actually turn up, do the work and will get legislation through.
“They are looking for 200 peers.”
A second insider also told that paper they “definitely” wanted more peers, by Downing Street said they did not recognise the 200 number.
It comes after more than a year of reports that Labour is looking to load the House of Lords with loyal peers to combat the Conservative dominance in that chamber.
In June 2023, a member of Starmer’s then shadow cabinet was quoted by the i as saying the party would “need to appoint dozens of them, at least”.
“The current cohort aren’t getting any younger, and there’s so few of them doing the actual work that they are increasingly knackered,” they added.
The Guardian quoted a Labour official as saying: “[Labour’s leader in the Lords] Angela Smith and [opposition chief whip] Roy Kennedy have been saying: if you want to get your legislation through you’re going to have to appoint a load.”
That paper calculated that Starmer would need to appoint around 100 new Labour peers in order to balance the number of Conservatives in the Lords.
Also in June 2023, Starmer’s official spokesperson insisted he stood by a pledge to abolish the Lords during his first term in office.
As it stands, there are 805 members of the House of Lords, according to the UK Parliament website. It is the most populous parliamentary house in the world other than the Chinese National People's Congress.
SNP depute leader at Westminster Pete Wishart told The National: "The sheer hypocrisy of Labour on the House of Lords is just simply staggering. This is a party that for over 100 years has told us that they were going to abolish the Lords, but there it sits, bigger and more bizarre than ever.
“The Lords isn’t anticipating its imminent demise but instead preparing for hundreds of more be-ermined Labour Lords.
“The issue for Labour is that they have their own donors, cronies and placemen to satisfy.
"With the House of Lords Bill going through the Commons we will be presenting a number of amendments asking for the exclusion of donors, bishops, and prime ministerial crony appointments.
“If we can’t secure an amendment to abolish the Lords itself we will see if we can abolish its membership.”
