Labour has defended its plan to appoint dozens of peers to the House of Lords if it wins the next election, despite promising to abolish the upper chamber altogether.
Angela Smith, Labour’s leader in the Lords, said Labour’s priority would be to get legislation through parliament if it won the next election, even if that meant increasing the size of an institution it had promised to scrap.
The party has come under fire from some, including the Scottish National party, who have accused it of hypocrisy, given the Labour leader, Keir Starmer, has previously warned about peerages being handed to “lackeys and donors”.
Smith told Times Radio on Wednesday: “There are 90 more Conservatives than Labour [members]. The priority for Keir will be ensuring he gets the Labour programme through.” She added: “[Starmer] is looking for people who are interested in doing a job of work, or from a particular area of expertise. When we see appointments from Keir, that is the kind of criteria he will be using.”
Labour’s intention to appoint many more peers was revealed on Wednesday by the Times.
A spokesperson for Starmer later said it would be “essential” for a Labour government to get its legislation through parliament and that doing so would require more peers from the party.
They said: “It is the nature of the way in which the process will have operated that the governing party of the day will not be the largest party in the House of Lords. So, of course we are going to be looking to make appointments.” They added that anyone appointed as a Labour peer would be expected to adhere to the party’s policy positions, including abolition of the chamber.
Starmer has promised to abolish the Lords and replace it with a smaller, cheaper democratically elected second chamber. Labour would not commit to doing so in a first term in government, saying only that it hoped to do so.
The party is consulting on how it can go about abolishing the Lords, which has proved stubbornly resistant to reform for decades. Starmer’s spokesperson said on Wednesday there could be “interim reforms” along the way to abolition.
Tommy Sheppard, the SNP MP, said: “It will come as no surprise to voters in Scotland that, yet again, Sir Keir Starmer’s party is U-turning on another pledge – this time to reform the House of Lords. They’re up to their old sleekit tricks again, and voters across the country can see right through their hollow promises.”
