A commission led by former prime minister Gordon Brown has called for a future Labour government to replace the controversial House of Lords with an elected upper chamber, in a landmark report on reforming the UK’s messy constitution.
Brown was tasked with setting out wide-ranging ideas about the future shape of the UK but this is perhaps the most significant. The House of Lords is currently unelected and still includes 92 hereditary peers – people who inherited their seat through family lineage – years after a pledge to get rid of them.
In a short speech to launch the report, titled A New Britain, Labour leader Keir Starmer said he would set out the details of the reforms he wants to take forward in the party’s next election manifesto. But he immediately stated his commitment to a smaller, democratically elected upper chamber.
