British Labor Party: ‘House of Lords unacceptable’

The Labor Party in Great Britain wants to launch a constitutional reform in the event of an election victory in 2025 and abolish the honorable House of Lords. Opposition leader Starmer no longer called the chamber up to date.

If British Labor wins the 2025 general election, it wants to abolish the House of Lords. This was announced by Labor leader Keir Starmer. “I think the House of Lords is unacceptable,” he told the BBC.

Labor plans to replace the House of Lords with “an elected parliament that has a really strong mandate”.

Proposal: New layout of the room

The concept of constitutional reform was coined by former Prime Minister Gordon Brown. He was the Prime Minister from 2007 to 2010. A central part of his 40-point plan was the abolition of the British House of Lords in its current form.

Currently, the House of Lords – one of the two chambers of Parliament in London – is made up of political elected officials, hereditary lords and Church of England bishops. The historic House of Lords, with around 800 members, has an advisory role and can defer, but not block, legislation passed by the House of Commons.

According to Brown’s proposal, the House of Lords should in future consist of members from the regions and countries of the United Kingdom. The Chamber should be “smaller, more representative and more democratic”.

“Council of States and Territories”

Additionally, Brown’s proposals envisage greater devolution, with the UK’s regions and nations being strengthened into a democratic “conglomerate of nations and territories”. He proposed more powers for Scotland and Wales, which already have semi-autonomous parliaments based in Edinburgh and Cardiff. Brown wants to oppose independence efforts in Scotland.

Labor leader Starmer promised to “devolve far greater power” from parliament to the people. He justified the reform plans primarily with Brexit and its consequences: many voters decided to leave the EU in 2016 because they felt they lacked democratic control. Starmer attributed the weak economic growth of the past 12 years under Conservative governments to Britain’s over-reliance on London and the south-east to stimulate growth as a whole.

Labor is currently leading the polls

Starmer announced plans to implement within five years of taking office. The draft was initially based on recommendations. The party now wants to discuss the details and deal with further proposed changes before incorporating the concept into its election manifesto for 2025.

Labor has a good chance of winning the January 2025 general election. In opinion polls, the opposition is now leading the ruling Conservative Party.

Reform efforts by many governments

Several governments have already attempted to reform the chamber. Two decades ago Prime Minister Tony Blair’s Labor government removed hundreds of peers from the chamber and replaced them with “life peers” appointed by the government and political parties. However, reform efforts stalled.