Burns Commission proposes a smaller House of Lords, and how to get there

t's time, once again, for another attempt at House of Lords reform. Late last year, the House debated a motion aiming to reduce the size of the House from its current 800-plus, and the Burns Commission, chaired by Crossbencher Lord Burns, a former mandarin, set to work. So, what are the proposals, and what are the potential issues?

Size

Six hundred peers is the figure that the Commission have alighted on, equivalent to that of the Commons if Boundary Commission proposals are adopted but, in any event, no more than the number in the Commons. This certainly addresses the concerns that the Lords is too big, although six hundred is still somewhat in excess of average daily attendance rate, but does potentially offer some 'low hanging fruit' in terms of easy reductions.

Distribution of cuts

It is suggested that each of the four main groups (Conservative, Labour, Liberal Democrats and Crossbenchers) be reduced at equal rates, proportionate to their current strength. In principle, that appears reasonable, although a closer examination of age profiles amongst the different groups may expose potential issues.

New appointments

This is where things get interesting. It is suggested that, if the proposed targets for departures are met, either through death or retirement, new appointments would be made based on the average (mean) of the percentages of seats and votes won by each party at the most recent election.

A new group of peers would be appointed once a year, on the basis of "one in, two out", so as to ensure progress towards the six hundred member target. New peers would be limited to a fifteen year term.

This wouldn't be good for the Liberal Democrats on current figures, but would prevent any Government from packing the place in order to ram through its legislative programme. It would also potentially mean representation for smaller parties, such as the Greens, Nationalists and Northern Irish parties.

One obvious objection is to the loss of Prime Ministerial patronage, and seats in the Lords have often been a way of rewarding loyalists. Whilst the proposals wouldn't entirely constrain that, they would create limitations, and Prime Ministers don't often accept those.

Bishops and Hereditaries

This is likely to be controversial, in that the Bishops would retain their twenty-six seats, making them more influential, and the hereditaries would also remain at ninety-two. The latter present more problems for the Conservatives and Crossbenchers, as there are fifty hereditary Conservatives and thirty-one hereditary Crossbenchers (there are four Labour and five Liberal Democrats, it seems).

The desire to avoid a legislative solution means that challenging the 1999 settlement with regard to the hereditaries is an impossibility.

Independents and non-affiliated peers

The proposals rather sidestep these peers, suggesting that they might seek the shelter of their original groups. Frankly, I can't see why any group obliged to reduce its numbers would be willing to jeopardise one of its loyal members in order to accommodate someone unable or unwilling to accept the whip, or who might have been expelled.

So, those are some initial thoughts and observations. The House will debate the proposals in due course, but here's the Liberal Democrat initial response.

Of course, that's the problem with the voluntary route for reform, you need everyone to buy into it…

Mark Valladares is Liberal Democrat Voice's House of Lords correspondent.