Member

These amendments have been crafted with the support of the Public Bill Office, to which I am most grateful, to ensure that they fall within scope. They would not change the rules of succession—I was not allowed to do that—but they go as far as they can. The Bill not only removes the right of hereditary Peers to sit; through Clause 2 it strips your Lordships of your long-standing jurisdiction to determine claims to hereditary peerages. Jurisdiction passes to the Judicial Committee of the Privy Council. My amendments would impose upon the committee an obligation to exercise that jurisdiction in a gender-neutral manner and to conduct an inquiry into how the principles of equality may be applied to that task.