A Cumbrian peer has hit out at the ‘crude’ plan to rid the House of Lords of hereditary peers.
Lord Inglewood sits in the House of Lords due to his birth right but under Labour’s plans for the modernisation of parliament, the Cumbrian peer would be forced to give up his seat in the Lords.
The House of Lords has more than 800 members with almost 100 of them sitting as hereditary peers.
Tony Blair cut the number of hereditary peers when he first came into office in 1997 and Sir Keir Starmer will attempt to cut them out altogether.
All members of the House of Lords are unelected and are nominated by different political parties to scrutinise legislation passed by the House of Commons.
Critics of the system say that the Lords is ‘undemocratic’ and ‘unaccountable’ whilst others argue that unelected politicians are able to effectively scrutinise legislation without having to answer to the electorate.
In an interview with the BBC, Lord Inglewood said that hereditary peers were an ‘anomaly’ but added that some hereditary peers make "significantly bigger contributions than quite a lot of life peers".
Lord Inglewood told BBC Politics North: "I don't think anybody enjoys being sacked, particularly if the reason for it, which curiously enough seems to be the identity of my father, is not a very convincing one."
READ MORE: Two Cumbrian hereditary peers to be affected by Labour's plans
"I think it is an anomaly in the modern world. I think it is important is that we find a way that evolution takes place, and, at the same time, it works in a seamless way. And what is being proposed is crude."
He added: "What we are seeing is not a reform of the House of Lords, it’s a tweaking on a journey which has probably got quite a long way to go."
The plans are part of Labour’s modernisation plan which could include mandatory retirement at 80 for all peers.
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