House of Lords members ‘claim money for doing absolutely nothing’

A life peer has launched a blistering attack on the House of Lords, claiming that many members contribute “absolutely nothing” to Parliament.

Former lord speaker Baroness D’Souza alleged one member even kept a taxi running outside while signing in to collect the £300 daily allowance.

The comments came in an interview for a BBC documentary about the House of Lords called Meet The Lords, which combines interviews and fly-on-the-wall footage.

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Lady D’Souza said: “There is a core of peers who work incredibly hard, who do that work, and there are, sad to say, many, many, many peers who contribute absolutely nothing but who claim the full allowance.

“I can remember one occasion when I was leaving the House quite late and there was a peer – who shall be utterly nameless – who jumped out of a taxi just outside the peers’ entrance, left the engine running.

“He ran in, presumably to show that he’d attended, and then ran out again while the taxi was still running.

“So I mean that’s not normal, but it is something that does happen and I think that we have lost the sense of honour that used to pertain, and that is a great, great shame.”

The attack comes as the House of Lords begin debating the Brexit bill, with some Labour and Liberal Democrat members threatening to amend it before it can be passed.

Former Cabinet minister Lord Blunkett and Lord Tebbit also criticised the process for appointments to the upper house in the show,

Labour former home secretary Lord Blunkett said: “You have got people who may well be, out of the patronage of the government of the day, rewarded for either keeping their mouth shut or opening their mouth or their purse at a particular moment in time.”

Tory peer Lord Tebbit added: “Far too many people have been put in here as a sort of personal reward.

“You wouldn’t have imagined Mrs Thatcher wanting to give a peerage to Denis Thatcher’s tailor or something like that.

“But we have come pretty close to that in recent years.”

Liberal Democrat Lord Tyler joked: “It is the best day care centre for the elderly in London, families can drop in him or her and make sure that the staff will look after them very well nice meals subsidised by the taxpayer, and they can have a snooze in the afternoon in the chamber or in the library.”

A House of Lords spokesman defended the role of peers, saying: “The House of Lords is an active and effective revising chamber that considered 3,678 amendments to legislation in the last session, and members contribute to that work in a wide variety of ways…

“All members have to certify that they have undertaken parliamentary work when claiming for attending the House.”

Meet The Lords will be broadcast on Monday February 27 at 9pm on BBC Two.

Top pic: Rex