Member

Therefore, we can assume, as everyone has said, that the hereditary Peers will be chucked out in about six months’ time—or maybe just into the new year if the Government continue to introduce massive Bills which are ill thought-out. However, why the haste to throw out some of the most hard-working Peers in this House? We all agreed in earlier debates that there were about 118 Peers who turned up for fewer than 15% of our sittings and over 70 who turned up for fewer than 10% of our sittings. We agreed that there were a dozen or so Peers who turned up but did absolutely nothing. There was also agreement that we needed a retirement age of about 85. However, the Government have refused to countenance any of these changes which would deliver the smaller House that we all want to see.