House of Lords (Hereditary Peers) Bill

Lord Garnier Excerpts

3rd reading
Monday 21st July 2025 Lords Chamber

[Lord Hope of Craighead (CB)]

My Lords, I pay tribute to the noble Baroness the Leader of the House for all the work that she and those in her office have been doing over many months to find a solution to this problem on behalf of the families of Peers who lack capacity. I know that it is the families that she has particularly in mind, and they certainly deserve our careful thought. The solution which has been adopted is an agile one, as has been said, which means that the House has ownership of the drafting of the Standing Orders and the mechanisms that are necessary. As it happens, it is exactly the kind of solution that the Supreme Court found for itself in 2009. It was provided with a set of rules which could be altered only by statutory instrument, and it decided instead to resort to practice directions of its own devising, which are flexible and can be changed as circumstances require. So, the mechanism is ideal and very much to be welcomed.

I particularly welcome Amendment 3, which characterises the thoughtfulness of the noble Baroness. It means that the measure will come into force on the passing of this Bill and we will not have to wait until the end of the Session, which is surely absolutely right. Our thanks go particularly to the noble Baroness for the work she did long before the noble Lord, Lord Ashton, brought forward his amendment.

[Lord Garnier (Con)]

My Lords, in endorsing what the noble and learned Lord has just said, I think it would be remiss to allow my noble friend Lord Ashton to hide behind his natural diffidence. Without him, this would not have happened; we owe him a great debt, as do the families of those Peers who may wish to make use of this provision in future. Of course, I thank the noble Baroness the Leader for her assistance in this matter. It is regrettable that this looks as though it is the only amendment to this Bill which will survive to Royal Assent. However, at least it is a good amendment that we can all celebrate.

[Lord True (Con)]

My Lords, I put my name to this amendment. I underline the thanks that have been expressed to all the various people mentioned, including the lawyers, who have played a very important part.

As has been said, the noble Baroness the Leader tried very hard over a long period to find an appropriate and successful solution to this. Many people, including my noble friend Lord Ashton of Hyde, the noble Lord, Lord Pannick, and others, felt it was safer to have a legislative underpinning. She has accepted that and put a very constructive amendment to the House. I thank her for that. I also thank her for the firm and clear assurance she gave on Amendment 3. Since I may not have another occasion—I have not had much engagement with them—I also thank the Bill team for their work; some of their faces are quite familiar to me, and I know they will have given great service to the Government.

It would have been good to see other minor incremental changes made to the Bill, and there were some ideas floated. Let us hope that we can find some other occasion to take those things forward. In the interim, I am very happy to have associated my name with this amendment, which carries the support of your Lordships on this side of the House.