House of Lords Act 1999

The House of Lords Act 1999 removed the automatic right of hereditary peers to sit and vote in the House of Lords, ending centuries of hereditary membership of the upper chamber. The Act was a flagship constitutional reform of the Labour government elected in 1997. As a compromise to secure the Act’s passage through the Lords, the Weatherill Amendment provided for 92 hereditary peers to remain as elected representatives of the hereditary peerage pending further reform. The Act reduced the membership of the House of Lords from over 1,300 to approximately 670 life peers. The Act was the first stage of a two-stage reform process, with the second stage (replacing the Lords with a wholly or largely elected chamber) never fully implemented.

Legal area: Constitutional law establishes the framework of government and the fundamental principles by which a state is governed, including the relationship between different branches of government and the rights of citizens.

Citation: House of Lords Act 1999 (1999 c 34)

Full text: https://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/1999/34

Key Provisions

• Section 1: No person shall be a member of the House of Lords by virtue of a hereditary peerage
• Section 2: Exception for 90 hereditary peers elected by the whole House
• Section 3: Exception for Earl Marshal and Lord Great Chamberlain
• Section 4: Hereditary peers retain right to vote in parliamentary elections
• Schedule 1: Standing Orders of the House regulating the election of 90 hereditary peers

Significance

The House of Lords Act 1999 was the most significant reform of the upper chamber since the Parliament Act 1911. It completed a century-long shift from a hereditary to an appointed chamber dominated by life peers, though the retained 92 hereditary peers remain as a compromise. The Act did not address the composition or powers of the House of Lords in the long term, leaving the second stage of reform uncompleted. The Act enhanced the democratic legitimacy of the House of Lords while preserving its character as a revising and scrutinising chamber. It has been criticised for creating a fully appointed chamber and for the anomaly of the remaining 92 hereditary peers.