Member

Those who have tabled Lords amendment 1 might say, “Well, unlike the last compromise, this one will eventually see hereditary peers leave the other place.” But when? They have already delayed the inevitable by 25 years. Will we have to wait another 25, 26 or 30 years? The youngest sitting hereditary peer is just 39 years of age. I wish him a long and happy life—of course, I do—and if he survives to the age of the oldest sitting hereditary peer, which is 93, that would be another 54 years until the end of the interim solution that was agreed 26 years ago. That is 11 general elections from now. A Telford constituent born the day the Bill becomes law—the day we started phasing out hereditary peers—would be 80 years old by the time the last hereditary peer retired. That is enough time for that constituent to have retired from this House themselves.