Tommy Sheppard MP for Edinburgh East is the SNP House of Lords spokesperson, and he has aired his view on the growth of the House of Lords in the last decade.
The House of Lords has now grown to accommodate around 800 peers – and Sheppard says that ‘only communist China has a larger unelected legislative body’. There have been 364 peerages granted in the last decade – the list of those conferred in 2020 is below.
Mr Sheppard has called for an urgent review into the so-called “honours-for-chums” that he says “threatens the credibility of our democracy”. He claims that the Prime Minister, Boris Johnson, has handed out around 170 peerages to fellow Tory politicians and advisers.
Tommy Sheppard said: “These Lords are unelected and unaccountable. It is an affront to our democracy that the Tories have been allowed to stuff the House of Lords with their party chums, election losing has-beens and Whitehall cronies.
“In a year when many working families have faced job losses and financial insecurities, it is sickening that Boris Johnson has chosen to dish out so many of these £300-a-day jobs-for- life to the likes of Ruth Davidson, and even his own brother, Jo Johnson.
“There’s growing anger amongst voters and allowing this kind of Westminster sleaze to continue any longer threatens the credibility of our democracy.
“It’s time to pull the brakes on this gravy train and urgently review this honours for chums scandal.
“The sooner this undemocratic, out-of-touch institution is abolished – and replaced with an elected chamber – the better.”
| 2020 PEERAGES | PARTY AFFILIATION |
| Nicola Ann Morgan | Conservative |
| Frank Zacarias Robin Goldmsith | Conservative |
| Robert John Reed | Crossbench |
| Gerlad Edgar Grimstone | Conservative |
| Stephen John Greenhalgh | Conservative |
| David Frost | Conservative |
| Mark Sedwill | Conservative |
| Nicholas Herbert | Conservative |
| Edward Vaizey | Conservative |
| James Wharton | Conservative |
| Ian Austin | Labour / Non-affiliated |
| Helena Morrisey | |
| Kathryn Sloane Clark | Labour |
| Ken Clarke | Conservative |
| Gisela Stuart | Labour / Non-affiliated |
| Lorraine Fullbrook | Conservative |
| Aamer Sarfraz | Conservative |
| Patrick McLoughlin | Conservative |
| Susan Hayman | Labour |
| Daniel Moylan | Conservative |
| Ian Botham | Crossbench |
| Prem Sikka | Labour |
| Frank Field | Labour / Non-affiliated |
| Claie Regina Fox | Brexit Party / Non-affiliated |
| Catharine Hoey | Labour / Non-affiliated |
| Veronica Wadley | Conservative |
| Andrew Sharpe | Conservative |
| John Lancaster | Conservative |
| Neil Mendoza | Conservative |
| Charles Moore | Non-affiliated |
| Michael Spencer | Conservative |
| Brinley Davies | Labour |
| Nigel Dodds | DUP |
| Nemat Shafik | Crossbench |
| Philip Hammond | Conservative |
| Joseph Edmund Johnson | Conservative |
| Louise Casey | Crossbench |
| Anthony Woodley | Labour |
| Henry Bellingham | Conservative |
| Edward Udney-Lister | Conservative |
| Keith Stewart | Conservative |
| Evgeny Lebedev | Crossbench |
| Sir Richard Benyon | Conservative |
| Peter Cruddas | Conservative |
| Dame Jacqueline Foster | Conservative |
| Stephanie Fraser | Conservative |
| Dean Godson | Conservative |
| Daniel Hannan | Conservative |
| Syed Kamall | Conservative |
| Judith Blake | Labour |
| Jennifer Chapman | Labour |
| Vernon Coaker | Labour |
| Wajid Khan | Labour |
| Gillian Merron | Labour |
| Terence Etherton | Crossbench |
| Simon McDonald | Crossbench |
| Andrew Parker | Crossbench |
| Rt Revd. And Rt Hon Dr John Sentamu | Crossbench |
Founding Editor of The Edinburgh Reporter.
Edinburgh-born multimedia journalist and iPhoneographer.
