Majority of public support House of Lords appointments reform

Released today, the timely research is revealed on the same day that No 10 has announced 26 new peerages, nominated by former Prime Minister Boris Johnson.

The findings come from a survey carried out for the Democracy in the UK after Brexit project, in which over 2000 members of the public were asked a trio of questions about their views on the House of Lords.

The survey asked respondents to choose between three options on how members are appointed. Only 6% supported the current system, whereby the Prime Minister appoints new members to the House of Lords. In contrast, 58% supported an independent body appointing new members (including 54% of those who voted Conservative in 2019). An additional 17% indicated that they agreed equally with both statements, while 19% selected ‘don’t know’. Excluding those who answered ‘don’t know’, just 7% supported the current system, while 72% supported change (21% supported both equally).

The UCL survey revealed that only 3% of respondents supported the current lack of size limits of the House of Lords, which is the largest second chamber in the world, at around 800 members. Instead, 65% believed that the number of members in the Lords should be no greater than the 650 MPs in the House of Commons (rising to 77% among 2019 Conservative voters). A further 9% of the overall sample agreed with both statements equally, while 23% responded ‘don’t know’. Excluding ‘don’t knows’, just 4% supported the status quo, against 84% who wanted change (11% agreed with both equally).

However, the results did not show strong support for moving towards a system of elected members in the Lords – with a roughly equal number of respondents supporting elected members as appointed. According to the survey, 29% of respondents agreed that the chamber ‘should include elected members to ensure that it is democratically accountable to the people’, while 28% agreed that the Lords ‘should include appointed members to ensure that it contains experts and people independent of political parties’. Meanwhile 26% agreed or disagreed with both statements equally, and 18% responded ‘don’t know’. There was relatively little difference between the views of 2019 voters for different political parties.

Professor Meg Russell (Director of UCL Constitution Unit) said: “Today’s batch of new peers nominated by Boris Johnson have, as usual, faced minimal oversight, and they will further swell the size of the roughly 800-member chamber.

“Our new survey results clearly demonstrate public rejection of the system of prime ministerial patronage to the Lords, and the chamber’s growing size.

“The public want a more clearly regulated system, involving an independent appointments commission and a clear cap on the size of the Lords. But this does not necessarily mean rejecting appointments altogether. In the short term, politicians should urgently focus on cleaning up the present system.”

The Democracy in the UK after Brexit project is funded by the Economic and Social Research Council, and led by Professor Alan Renwick.

Links

• UCL Constitution Unit
• UCL Faculty of Social & Historical Sciences 
• Professor Meg Russell's academic profile
• Professor Alan Renwick's academic profile 
• Democracy in the UK after Brexit project

Image

• Credit: iStock / Olga Kraemer

Media contact
Evie Calder

Tel: +44 20 7679 8557
E: e.calder [at] ucl.ac.uk