Reform of The House of Lords - History of Reform - The Blair Labour Government

The Blair Labour Government

In 1999, the Government completed a deal with the Lords to remove most of the hereditary Peers and passed the House of Lords Act 1999 leaving amongst the majority of appointed Peers a rump of 92 Hereditary Peers until the second phase of reform was complete. These 92 were elected from within those who had had a right to be members of the House of Lords as a result of their hereditary status. This arrangement was intended to be purely temporary until the second stage of reform was completed. This led to some claims (perhaps not all serious) that the elected Hereditary Lords were the only democratic members of the House.

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Reform Of The House Of Lords - History of Reform - The Blair Labour Government - Votes of March 2007
... The government dismissed this as "back-of-an-envelope calculations" and Jack Straw told the House of Commons that On 15 March Lord Steel published a proposed bill approved by a large meeting of peers and MPs ... Authorise the government to proceed with a retirement package which should reduce the average age and decrease the present House of 740 by possibly 200 ...

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