List of hereditary peers of the House of Lords since 1999
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This is a list of hereditary peers of the House of Lords since the reforms of the House of Lords Act 1999. The Act excluded all hereditary peers who were not also life peers except for two holders of royal offices plus 90 other peers, to be chosen by the House. The initial cohort 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.
For both the 1999 elections and by-elections candidature 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 if they hold a title in one of the other peerages, but if elected, they may use their Irish peerage whilst in the Lords. Electorates are either the whole House or a party group of sitting hededitary peers within. A Standing Order of the House, approved prior to enactment of the Act, mandates that the remaining 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 Crossbencher 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]
- The holders of the offices of Earl Marshal and Lord Great Chamberlain as ex officio members[3]
These numbers elected by each group reflected the relative strengths of the parties among hereditary peers at the time of the Act. This allocation has remained unchanged since 1999.
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.