As more peers are crammed in the Lords, the public support elected members Late on Friday, the Government slipped out its latest honours list, which will add 13 new peers to the already-heaving House of Lords. Among the newly-ennobled are the usual clutch of party donors and advisors.... Posted 13 Feb 2024
What is a Senate of the Regions and Nations? Over the years many parties and groups have suggested ideas for reform of the House of Lords. Recently, the Labour party has suggested that the House of Lords should be replaced with a ‘Senate of... Posted 01 Feb 2024
What is the role of the House of Lords and could it do more? While the House of Lords is often in the press, it’s often due to the things its members should not be doing, rather than the work it does do. The chamber though has an important... Posted 29 Jan 2024
ERS in the Press – January 2024 Despite being one of our country’s shortest ever Prime Ministers Liz Truss dominated the headlines over the festive period. The ERS press team were ready and waiting to get our arguments around the House of... Posted 18 Jan 2024
The UK’s shortest serving PM hands out peerages to friends and supporters In the days between Christmas and New Year, the government tried to quietly slip out some bad news – it hoped many people would be too distracted by remnant cheeseboards and left-over Turkey to notice... Posted 02 Jan 2024
Which is the best electoral system for the House of Lords? Whenever the issue of creating an elected Second Chamber comes up, a common question is how it should be elected. Thankfully, one of the areas of agreement on Lords reform over the years has been... Posted 27 Dec 2023
How many peers are there in the House of Lords – and how many does it need? One of the unique features of our currently second chamber, apart from it being unelected and still partially based on inherited titles, is that its membership is huge. At over 800 peers in total, not... Posted 21 Dec 2023
Fewer than one-in-four support prime ministers handing out peerages to parachute people into cabinet Our recent polling, covered by the Daily Mirror, has found that fewer than one-in-four individuals think it is acceptable for prime ministers to appoint peers to the House of Lords so they can parachute them... Posted 12 Dec 2023
Unfinished Business: New report shows routes to an elected Second Chamber Reform of the House of Lords is both hugely popular with the public and very long overdue. Yet in any serious discussion of how to achieve reform, the same questions come up: What about Commons... Posted 11 Dec 2023
David Cameron’s seat at the cabinet table means a seat for life in the Lords David Cameron was appointed as Foreign Secretary this week – but he’s not been an MP since 2016. How is he then taking one of the great offices of state? He’s not going to stand... Posted 16 Nov 2023