Representative Peer - House of Commons

House of Commons

After the Union between England and Scotland in 1707, Scottish peers, even those who did not sit as representative peers, were barred from sitting in the House of Commons.

Irish peers were not subjected to the same disability after 1801 as their Scottish counterparts. Irish peers who were not representative peers could serve as a Member of Parliament for a constituency in Great Britain (but not in Ireland), provided they gave up their privileges as a peer.

The Peerage Act 1963 allowed all Scottish peers to sit in the House of Lords; it also permitted all Irish peers to sit in the House of Commons for any constituency in the United Kingdom, as well as to vote in parliamentary elections, without being deprived of the remaining privileges of peerage.

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