With peers who barely speak claiming millions in expenses, we must reform the House of Lords

New research reveals the scandal of silent peers claiming more than the average British wage in expenses.

While their role is supposedly to scrutinise government, it’s the House of Lords itself that should be coming under increased scrutiny, following revelations today.

Just a month after over 30 million people voted for the MPs that would represent their views in Parliament for the next five years, a second ‘election’ was held that put the farcical nature of the House of Lords into context.

In a hereditary peer by-election in which only 27 votes were cast, Baron Vaux of Harrowden received the support of 16 of his fellow aristocrats and thereby won a seat at the centre of the British political system for the rest of his life.

But now we know that the rot goes much deeper than the farce of hereditary peer by-elections. With the Lord Speaker’s Committee on the Size of the Upper House set to release their report on cutting down the Lords next month, the Electoral Reform Society has published extensive research on how peers have behaved in the 2016/17 session – and the findings are stark.

The analysis shows the consequences of a completely unaccountable second chamber – corroborating a claim made by Baroness D’Souza as part of the BBC’s recent ‘Meet the Lords’ series: “There are many, many, many [peers] who contribute absolutely nothing but who claim the full allowance.”

Between April 2016 and March 2017, at a time of significant strain on public services and stagnating wages, the average peer claimed over £25,000 tax-free in expenses: a rise of over 20% from the same period in 2014/15.

455 peers in the 16/17 session claimed more in expenses than the median take home pay for full-time British workers – for what is essentially a part time job (the House sat for just 141 days in 2016/17).

This is a cost many would justify if these peers were making a reasonable contribution to the business of Parliament. But here’s where the scandal becomes clear.

Over half of peers made 10 or fewer spoken contributions for the entire 2016/17 Parliamentary session. Yet these members claimed over £7.3m in expenses.

In fact, over a third (36%) of peers spoke five times or fewer in the past year – with many simply turning up to vote and rack up a £4.1m bill for the taxpayer.

On the other side, the most active 300 peers cast two-thirds of the session’s votes, made three-quarters of the spoken contributions – while claiming only half of the total expenses bill.

Many of the other 500+ peers represent a continuation of the “something for nothing” culture many had hoped the justified anger over the 2009 expenses scandal and the reforms that followed would remove.

Although plans to reduce the size of the Lords are a small step in the right direction, ultimately it is the lack of accountability that enables peers to take advantage of the system.

At a time of great historical importance for British politics, it is vital we have a second chamber up to the job. Tinkering around the edges is not enough. It is time for real reform.

Emma Levin is a Politics and Economics student at the University of Nottingham, and worked on the ERS research

4 Responses to “With peers who barely speak claiming millions in expenses, we must reform the House of Lords”

  1. Dulari-Leiylah Markelke

    Always a money tree for the few

  2. NHSGP

    1. Force them to publish the days they use their passes [or a temporary pass]

    2. Force them to publish the exact days they claimed expenses.

    3. Compare the two.

    4. Off to Jail.

    Oh dear, you can’t. The Clerk of Parliaments made that a state secret.

    Interesting then that they have no defence, they would have to breach the secrets act to defend themselves.

    Snippit. Mervyn Brag paid back cash on the quite.

  3. robert puzey

    give them all a pass that can be used on a machine in and out of parliment, loke the clock in cards in industrury

  4. Mike Roger

    I approve this choice of subject, and the layout and access.
    Thanks to Charlotte England.
    Mike

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