Pledge
“The next Labour government will therefore bring about an immediate modernisation, by introducing legislation to remove the right of hereditary peers to sit and vote in the House of Lords”
Our verdict
The House of Lords (Hereditary Peers) Act became law in March 2026, meaning the right of hereditary peers to sit in the House of Lords will cease at the end of the current parliamentary session.
Most members of the House of Lords are life peers, meaning they may sit in the House of Lords for their lifetime, but their peerage cannot be passed on to an heir. Twenty six Church of England archbishops and bishops are also entitled to sit in the House.
In addition, approximately 10% of House of Lords members are hereditary peers who inherited their peerage through their family. The right to sit in the House of Lords was removed for most hereditary peers in 1999. However, as part of a compromise struck at that time, 92 seats for hereditary peers were retained.
When a hereditary peer leaves the House of Lords a by-election is held to replace them (though this process is currently paused while the proposed removal of the remaining hereditary peers is being considered). Hereditary peers who do not sit in the House of Lords can stand in these elections.
As part of plans to reform the House of Lords, Labour pledged in its manifesto to introduce legislation “to remove the right of hereditary peers to sit and vote in the House of Lords”; that is, removing the 92 seats retained for hereditary peers following the House of Lords Act 1999.
Join 73,000 newsletter subscribers who trust us to check the facts
Sign up to get weekly updates on politics, immigration, health and more.
Subscribe to weekly email newsletters from Full Fact for updates on politics, immigration, health and more. Our fact checks are free to read but not to produce, so you will also get occasional emails about fundraising and other ways you can help. You can unsubscribe at any time. For more information about how we use your data see our Privacy Policy.
We’re rating this pledge as “achieved” as the House of Lords (Hereditary Peers) Act passed into law in March 2026.
The pledge commits to introducing “legislation”, which is defined as “is a law or a set of laws that have been passed by Parliament”, but is also used to describe the act of making a new law. Given the pledge also commits to achieving “immediate modernisation” through the legislation we’ve assumed the commitment will be fulfilled when the law is passed.
The House of Lords (Hereditary Peers) Bill was introduced in the House of Commons on 5 September 2024, and passed into law as the House of Lords (Hereditary Peers) Act on 18 March 2026.
The Act repeals the section of the House of Lords Act 1999 which enabled 92 hereditary peers to continue to sit in the House of Lords when the remaining hereditary peers were excluded from the House. It also abolishes the jurisdiction of the House of Lords in relation to claims to hereditary peerages (currently the House of Lords plays a role in adjudicating disputed peerage claims).
As part of a deal to ensure progression of the legislation through the House of Lords, the government has reportedly agreed to allow some Conservative and crossbench hereditary peers to be granted life peerages to remain in the Lords, though the exact number has not been confirmed.
The legislation will take effect at the end of the current Session of Parliament, which is reportedly set to be in May.
As we develop this Government Tracker we’re keen to hear your feedback. We’ll be keeping the Tracker up to date and adding more pledges in the coming months.
Progress displayed publicly—so every single person in this country can judge our performance on actions, not words.
Sir Keir Starmer, Prime Minister – 24 September 2024