House of Lords (Hereditary Peers) Bill Debate
Full Debate: Read Full DebateDepartment: Leader of the House
Lord Swire
Main Page: Lord Swire (Conservative - Life peer)Department Debates - View all Lord Swire's debates with the Leader of the House
Wednesday 2nd July 2025
(2 days, 1 hour ago)
Lords ChamberRead Full debate House of Lords (Hereditary Peers) Bill 2024-26 View all House of Lords (Hereditary Peers) Bill 2024-26 Debates Read Hansard Text Read Debate Ministerial Extracts Amendment Paper: HL Bill 49-R-I Marshalled list for Report - (30 Jun 2025)
Baroness Smith of Basildon (Lab)
My Lords, I am keen to make progress on these issues in what I call bite-sized chunks. I have always referred to these two issues as being stage 2. They are the two issues that have been raised most often in Committee and again now on Report. There seems to be a consensus around the House that they are specific issues that the House wants to deal with. I have chosen them because they have been mentioned so often by noble Lords.
Lord Swire (Con)
If the noble Baroness is trying to present the Select Committee as being in part an answer to some of the long-term questions about the future of this House, would she be open to considering outsiders joining it who may have an interest in the future of our bicameral legislature? I point out that, according to current polling, the Reform Party is likely to get 271 seats at the next election, against Labour’s 178. Should parties like that not be included in looking at the long-term future governance of this country?