Under the reforms of the House of Lords Act 1999, the majority of hereditary peers became ineligible to be members of the House of Lords, the upper house of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. Section 2 of the Act, however, provides an exception from this general exclusion of membership for up to 92 hereditary peers: 90 to be elected by the House, as well as the holders of two royal offices, the Earl Marshal and the Lord Great Chamberlain, who sit as ex officio members. The initial cohort of excepted hereditary peers were elected in the 1999 House of Lords elections. Between 1999 and November 2002, vacancies among this group were filled by runners-up in the 1999 election. Since then, by-elections to the House of Lords have filled vacancies.
Candidature for both the 1999 elections and subsequent by-elections is restricted to peers in the Peerages of England, Scotland, Great Britain and the United Kingdom. Peers in the Peerage of Ireland are only eligible for election if they hold a title in one of the other peerages, but if successful may use their Irish peerage title as a member of the House. The electorates are either the whole membership of the House of Lords (including life peers), or a party group of sitting hereditary peers. A standing order of the House, approved prior to the commencement of the House of Lords Act 1999, mandates that the 90 elected hereditary peers consist of:[1]
- 2 peers elected by the Labour hereditary peers
- 42 peers elected by the Conservative hereditary peers
- 3 peers elected by the Liberal Democrat hereditary peers
- 28 peers elected by the crossbench hereditary peers
- 15 peers elected by the whole House
By convention, whole-House elections elect members of the same affiliation as the departed peer.[2]
These numbers elected by each group reflected the relative strengths of the parties among hereditary peers in 1999; this allocation has remained unchanged since then. The fifteen peers elected by the whole House were intended to provide a group of experienced members ready to serve as deputy speakers or other officers.
A small number of hereditary peers sit in the Lords by virtue of their being granted life peerages (see listing). These are not listed below.
- ^ "Hansard, Vol 604 No 126 Cols 1290–1292". 26 July 1999. Retrieved 19 May 2008.
- ^ For example:
- "By-elections to replace six hereditary peers" (PDF). parliament.uk. 12 May 2021. Retrieved 6 November 2023.
Under the terms of an informal agreement amongst the parties and groups in the House of Lords, it is expected that this vacancy will be filled by an hereditary peer who will sit as a crossbench member of the House
- Lord True (10 November 2021). "Hereditary Peers: By-elections". Parliamentary Debates (Hansard). House of Lords. col. 1703.
Yes, there is a by-election today. I have voted in it and, in accordance with the Carter convention, I voted for a Labour Peer. I have kept to the agreements made in 1999.
- "By-elections to replace six hereditary peers" (PDF). parliament.uk. 12 May 2021. Retrieved 6 November 2023.