Member

I turn to other points that were made in the debate. There is a point that the noble Lord, Lord Strathclyde, who I am sure we will hear from further during the passage of the Bill, has not addressed in his contributions: every Member of this House has somehow come here by appointment. In the case of hereditary Peers, it may have been an ancestor of theirs and it may have been many generations ago, but all peerages started with appointments. The current system of by-elections means that there is a very small number of families across the country who have a fast-tracked route to a small number of seats, and the noble Earl would be wise to recognise that.