Propriety And Peerages

Propriety and peerages

The Committee has a long standing interest in the administration of the honours system, the award of peerages and standards of conduct in public life. Partly as a result of allegations concerning the possible offer of peerages in return for political donations they undertook this inquiry into the system of scrutiny of the propriety of honours and peerages for political services. The main proposal is for an immediate House of Lords reform measure, which would put the independent House of Lords Appointments Commission onto a statutory footing and empower it to take decisions on the size, balance and composition of the House against agreed and explicit criteria. However the Government does not need to wait for legislation as it could immediately decide that new peers should be chosen by the Appointments Commission from a long list provided and published by the parties. The Committee also recommend that the link between honours and a seat in the legislature should be broken. The first is a reward for past service; the latter is for potential future service.

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A treatise on the evidence of Succession to real and Personal Property and Peerages