TWO hereditary peers have been elected to the House of Lords after receiving just 27 votes between them.
After the retirement of Lord Brabazon of Tara and the death of Lord Swinfen, the House of Lords held a by-election to replace the two hereditary peers.
Following the death or retirement of a hereditary peer, fellow hereditary peers from their party or group are permitted to replace them by voting in a selection of candidates from a closed list of former hereditary peers or new ones who have inherited their title since the 1999 reforms.
Conservatives Lord Remnant and Lord Wrottesley were elected in a by-election with a turnout of 41 out of 45 possible voters.
Lord Remnant was elected with 22 first-preference votes and Lord Wrottesley received just 5 first-preference votes and was subsequently elected following a five-stage process where other candidates were eliminated.
They will now both be able to sit in the House of Lords for the rest of their lives.
Willie Sullivan, Senior Director for Campaigns at the Electoral Reform Society, said:
“Today’s by-election saw a small band of aristocrats decide amongst themselves who has the right to make laws for life – with absolutely no accountability to the public.
“These hereditary by-elections are an affront to democracy and a fig-leaf designed to disguise the fact we still have parts of our democracy that are fenced off to ordinary people and reserved as a privilege for a small elite.
“We need to end this unjust and unfair farce, which means the UK is the only country in the world, apart from the African nation of Lesotho, who still picks legislators by the circumstances of their birth.”
Lord Remnant is a director of Northern Rock whose main interest is in “countryside matters”.
Meanwhile, Lord Wrottesley competed for Ireland in the 2002 Winter Olympics and finished fourth in the men's skeleton.
He is married to the daughter of Swiss financier Urs Schwarzenbach, who has an estimated wealth of over £900 million.
In 1999, Tony Blair’s government reformed the second chamber and removed all but 92 hereditary peers from actually sitting in the House of Lords, all of whom are men.
However, the House of Lords still has over 800 unelected peers who are able to claim £323 each day they attend.
Between April 2019 and March 2020, the Lords cost £17.7 million in allowances and expenses, with the average peer claiming £30,687.
Sullivan added: “The House of Lords needs to be urgently reformed, starting with scrapping the 92 hereditary peers.
"This would, at a stroke, slim down our bloated upper chamber which is costing the taxpayer an excessive amount.
“The Lords needs to be made accountable to the public who pay for it and who have to abide by the laws it creates”.
