Leader of the Lords to meet Boris Johnson in bid to cut number of peers heraldscotland.com - get the latest breaking news, showbiz & celebrity photos, sport news & rumours, viral videos and top stories from heraldscotland.com Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday newspapers.
UK Parliament 2021
Members will debate remote participation and the hybrid sittings of the House of Lords, set up in response to COVID-19, on Thursday 20 May.
Lord Judge (Crossbench), Convenor of the Crossbench Peers
Lord Lucas (Conservative), former member of the Democracy and Digital Technologies Committee
Lord Newby (Liberal Democrats), Leader of the Liberal Democrats
COVID-19: House of Lords response
The House responded rapidly to the pandemic and changed the way it works. It set up ‘hybrid proceedings’ in the chamber, online committee meetings and the online voting system.
Impact on Parliament
The Constiution Committee published its COVID-19 and Parliament report as part of its inquiry into the Constitutional implications of COVID‑19.
House of Lords COVID-19 update
House of Lords COVID-19 update
19 May 2021 2021
The House of Lords Commission, chaired by the Lord Speaker, has increased chamber capacity for hybrid proceedings with effect from Thursday 20 May.
From Thursday 20 May, the capacity for speakers in the House of Lords chamber will be increased to 53 (from 30) as social distancing for members is reduced to one metre.
The House of Lords Commission, in consultation with Public Health England, agreed the changes on Wednesday 19 May.
Social distancing in the House of Lords
Distancing around the rest of the House of Lords estate will remain at two metres. Members and staff are encouraged to wear face masks and take regular lateral flow tests.
Lord McFall of Alcuith Has Been Confirmed As New Lord Speaker
John McFall, Baron McFall of Alcluith PC, has been elected as the new Lord Speaker (Alamy)
21 April
Lord McFall of Alcuith has been elected as the new Lord Speaker, following Lord Fowler’s early resignation announced in February 2021.
McFall, a Labour and Co-operative MP in Dunbartonshire from 1987 to 2010, first joined the House of Lords in 2010. He has served as Senior Deputy Speaker of the House of Lords since 2016, overseeing work to restructure Lords Select Committees and to develop new procedures for hybrid working during the pandemic.
McFall has said that he wants the Lords to be a “a vibrant, outward-facing legislature that reaches out as widely as possible across all parts of the United Kingdom”.
Lord Fowler’s term began in 2016 and was not due to end until September this year. However, in February the former transport and health secretary in Margaret Thatcher’s government announced that “a range of important changes” taking place within the upper house should be overseen by the team who will see them through.
On announcing his retirement from the role, the 83-year-old, whose parliamentary career spans more than 50 years, told the House that the job comes with “one grave disadvantage” – that “I am not able to speak my mind on the issues of the day”.
He stands down to begin a career as an “entirely independent backbencher, able to speak out on political issues that concern me” and to “have the freedom to campaign, particularly on the area of HIV and AIDs”, he explained during his address to the House in February. As secretary of state for health and social security in 1987, Lord Fowler spearheaded the “Don’t Die of Ignorance” campaign that i