House of Lords (Hereditary Peers) Bill Committee: New Clause 20

Parliament voted on 12 November 2024 on a proposed new clause (New Clause 20) to the House of Lords (Hereditary Peers) Bill during its Committee stage in the House of Commons. The clause, put forward by Conservatives, would have required the government to formally consult hereditary peers and their families before removing their right to sit in the House of Lords. The amendment was defeated by 375 votes to 98.

The vote concerned whether the government must undertake a consultation process specifically with hereditary peers and their relatives before the Bill's reforms take effect. Had it passed, it would have introduced a procedural requirement that could slow or complicate the removal of the remaining 92 hereditary peers from the Lords, a reform that would end the last category of membership in Parliament based solely on inherited title. The measure affects a small but historically significant group whose presence in the legislature dates back centuries.

The division followed clear party lines. Conservatives voted unanimously in favour of the consultation requirement, joined by Reform UK MPs and the Democratic Unionist Party. Labour, Labour Co-operative, SNP, Plaid Cymru, the Greens, and the SDLP all voted against. Two independents supported the clause and six opposed it. There were no Conservative votes against the clause and no Labour votes in favour, making this one of the sharpest partisan divisions of the Bill's committee stage. This vote was one of several on the same day, with a near-identical result recorded on Amendment 25, also defeated 98 to 376, suggesting a coordinated Conservative effort to test the government's position on multiple fronts.