Outgoing British Prime Minister Keir Starmer is reportedly planning to appoint 19 new Labour peers to the House of Lords as one of his final acts before leaving office. This potential resignation honours list comes despite Starmer having previously criticized past prime ministers for similar actions.
If finalized, the appointments would bring the total number of peers added by Starmer to the upper chamber to 135 within his less than two-year tenure. The reported list has raised concerns that individuals such as controversial aide Morgan McSweeney could be granted seats in Parliament. The allocation of peerages to other parties has also become a point of contention, with the Liberal Democrats reportedly receiving more seats than the Conservatives, and the Reform party receiving none.
In 2023, Starmer publicly criticized then-Prime Minister Rishi Sunak for accepting a resignation honours list from his predecessor, Boris Johnson. Starmer stated at the time, "Tony Blair didn't have a resignation list. It's very hard to justify. There are other avenues for that and I think it's easier to be clean about this and simply say, no, I wouldn't do it."
Following Starmer's announcement of his departure last month, Downing Street declined to comment on speculation regarding a resignation honours list. However, a spokesperson for the Prime Minister's office, when asked about Starmer's potential creation of 19 new peers, refused to comment on "speculation" initially reported by The Times. The office did highlight Starmer's removal of hereditary peers from the Lords as a significant reform and indicated that further reform of the upper house was being explored.
Labour's manifesto included a commitment to replace the House of Lords with "an alternative second chamber that is more representative of the regions and nations." When pressed on whether Starmer still believed the Lords should be abolished, his spokesman stated that it is "normal practice for prime ministers to recommend individuals for peerages."
Regarding whether Starmer would issue a resignation honours list despite his previous stated opposition, his spokesman referred to remarks made by the Prime Minister at the NATO summit, where he indicated he would "look at that in the usual course of things."
A Conservative source accused Labour of "gerrymandering" and "disregard for constitutional convention for their own political ends." Labour, in response, pointed out that when the last 92 hereditary peers were removed earlier this year, 15 of them became Conservative life peers, a number higher than for other parties.