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House of Lords (Cessation of Membership) Bill [HL] 2012-13

Lords

(This Bill is from a previous session)

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Summary

  • Type of Bill:

    Lords Private Members' Bill

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  • First Reading: House of Commons First Reading: House of Commons

    04 Dec 2012

    Bill brought from the House of Lords and read the first time.

Summary

A Bill presented by Lord Steel to make provision for Peers to cease to be Members of the House of Lords by way of retirement or in the event of non-attendance or criminal conviction.

Under the Bill, a peer can only have his House of Lords membership terminated by the Lord Speaker if they are convicted of a criminal offence or if they are ordered to be imprisoned, sentenced to more than a year or detained indefinitely.  Similarly, a peer can have his membership revoked if they do not attend the House of Lords during a parliamentary session.  However, members are exempt from this if they have a leave of absence.

Under existing legislation, a peerage can only be removed by an Act of Parliament as they are created by Letters Patent, which is normally a published written order signed by the head of state.

In the previous session, Lord Steel introduced the House of Lords (Amendment) Bill, which included the aforementioned provisions.  He also proposed that a new Statutory Appointment Commission be established to appoint peers and for an end to by-elections to replace hereditary peers when they die.