Early evening summary
Resident doctors are to be consulted on whether or not to call off their upcoming strike after receiving an offer from the government, the British Medical Association (BMA) has said. As PA Media reports, medics are due to walk out for five days from 17 December due to an ongoing row over pay and concerns over training places. The BMA said the government has put forward an offer on “ending the jobs crisis for doctors in England”. It said that resident doctors will be consulted over whether this offer is enough to call off next week’s walkout through an online survey, which will close on Monday 15 December.
For a full list of all the stories covered on the blog today, do scroll through the list of key event headlines near the top of the blog.
How Tories will still be largest party in Lords, even with 25 new Labour peers arriving, and hereditaries leaving
The Conservatives are currently the largest party in the House of Lords. But, with 822 peers currently in the Lords in total, they don’t have a majority. No party ever has, in recent times, because of the large number of crossbenchers.
Even when the new peers announced today take their seats, the Tories will still be the largest party.
Before the end of this parliamentary session, the House of Lords (hereditary peers) bill is due to become law. That will remove the remaining hereditary peers (many of whom are Conservative) from the Lords. But even then the Tories will still be the largest party.
The House of Lords bill has gone through the Commons and the Lords. But it has not been debated since September, when MPs voted out Lords amendments, including one that would have allowed the remaining hereditaries to stay in the Lords until they die. This dispute will have to be resolved in “ping pong” between the two house, and the government whips seems to be saving this up until much closer to the end of this session of parliament.
Here are the figures showing how many peers there are in the Lords by party, what difference the new appointments will make, and what will happen to the numbers when the remaining hereditary peers are removed.
Conservatives
Now: 282
With new peers: 285
Without hereditaries: 241
Labour
Now: 209
With new peers: 234
Without hereditaries: 230
Crossbenchers
Now: 177
With new peers: 177
Without hereditaries: 147
Liberal Democrats
Now: 75
With new peers: 78 (two of the new peerages announced today have gone to people who are already hereditary peers).
Without hereditaries: 76
Others (non-affiliated, bishops and smaller parties)
Now: 79
With new peers: 79
Without hereditaries: 77
