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Lord Wallace of Tankerness (LD)

Speaking in the House of Lords on 25 March 2025

Debate

House of Lords (Hereditary Peers) Bill

Contribution

My Lords, I want to speak to my Amendments 58A and 59B. I have a lot of sympathy for what the noble Lord, Lord Grocott, has just said. I tabled these amendments against a background of also aspiring to a wholly elected House, where appointments would not come into it. What prompted my amendments was that Amendment 57 recommends that “the Lord Chief Justice, Master of the Rolls and Lord President of the Court of Session be granted a life peerage”. In the interests of the union, we should not forget one part of the United Kingdom, and that is why I have sought to add the Lord Chief Justice of Northern Ireland. I do not know the present Lady Chief Justice, Dame Siobhan Keegan, but I know her predecessor, Sir Declan Morgan, who would make excellent contributions to your Lordships’ House—and may yet do so for all that I know. If we are passing legislation for some parts of the United Kingdom, there is no logic at all to why Northern Ireland should be omitted.

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