House of Lords reform: proposals to end the by-elections for the hereditary peers

The Constitutional Reform and Governance Bill 2008-09 introduced in July 2009 included a clause which would end the process of by-elections to fill the vacancies for hereditary peers. This would allow the number of hereditary peers in the Lords to reduce over time to zero. This note sets out the Government’s proposals and some background information on the House of Lords Act 1999.