B

Baroness Smith of Basildon (Lab)

Speaking in the House of Lords on 2 July 2025

Debate

House of Lords (Hereditary Peers) Bill

Contribution

The noble Earl will know more about the history of non-aligned appointments. I do not think we have appointed anybody who is not aligned at all. Interesting points have been made about accountability and suitability. Political parties must be responsible for the suitability of those whom they put forward, just as HOLAC is responsible for the suitability of its appointments. Partly because they are largely my idea, I think citations are a good thing because there is more information in the public domain about why somebody has been appointed. However, it would be a regrettable situation if a political party was then to say, “Oh, we don’t test suitability. That’s a matter for HOLAC; we don’t take responsibility for our appointments”. All political parties should take that responsibility rather than pass it on to HOLAC.

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