Numbers in the House of Lords need to be reduced - Yorkshire Post Letters

The statistics quoted by Clark Cross about the numbers of MPs, Lords, Dames for the four nations which total 1,715, partially explains why few decisions are made, or those made take so long.

In the House of Lords there are currently 786, and growing each year. Members have to scrutinise decisions with proposals going backwards and forwards several times. Yorkshire Post, December 5, 2022.

Why is the number of members in the House of Lords, or House of Peers, about 150 more than the 650 MP's in the House of Commons?

The simple answer is that past Prime Ministers liked to nominate those who supported them through thick and thin with David Cameron topping the list with 243, Tony Blair with his 203 'Tony's cronies', acknowledging that both of these were long serving Prime Minister's with several terms of office.

How can Boris Johnson justify putting forward 106 of his 'cronies' for simply 'aiding' him? The first prize must go to Liz Truss who has nominated three, from her 44 days in office.

A cull is definitely needed to reduce numbers in the House of Lords, as the cost to the public purse is escalating.

I wrote to the Leader of the House of Lords, Baroness Evans in 2019 about my concerns of the large number of members of the House of Lords with associated cost, which was £89m (latest available figures at the time were from 2016) and her reply was 'we are too busy to look at reforming the House of Lords'.

Well this excuse for not looking into how the House of Lords functions can be used for evermore or time and memorial and therefore nothing will ever change.

One of Labour's suggestions in 1997, of reducing the number to 600 members, would be a good starting point to reducing the numbers.

If all members attended an important debate, where would they all sit as the chamber has limited capacity? Some would have to sit and listen on Parliament Green via loudspeakers.

The function of the House of Lords needs to remain on the back burner at the next election as the way it functions with life peers.

It is true that some MPs have made a career of being a politician. Surely there should be a time limit on the number of years of service in the House of Parliament, and a cut off of 30 years would reduce more than a few long serving members.