5 DECEMBER 2022 | NEWS
Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer has pledged to abolish the House of Lords in his first term as Prime Minister if Labour wins the next General Election.
On Monday, alongside former Prime Minister Gordon Brown, Starmer launched a blueprint for a shake-up of the constitution aimed at moving power away from Westminster and into the hands of the nations and regions of the UK.
Together, they proposed 40 new recommendations to create a “New Britain”, covering areas from the House of Lords to creating new revenue-raising powers for local areas.
The Labour leader told Sky News today that Labour “do want to abolish the House of Lords” and that nobody can “defend” the institution.
“It’s one of the recommendations, as you know, in today’s report.
“What we’re going to do after today is now consult on those recommendations, test them, and in particular, look at how can they be implemented.”
A Labour Party advocate and rumoured candidate, Gary Neville, praised the report in a Tweet this morning as being the “transformational change needed to level up”.
Sir Keir said he would aim to scrap the House of Lords in his first term as Prime Minister.
“Because what I asked when I asked Gordon Brown to set up the commission to do this, I said what I want is recommendations that are capable of being implemented in the first term.
“We’re going to get one shot at fixing our economy and fixing our politics and I want to make sure we get it exactly right,” he added.
At the launch for their blueprint, Starmer told the audience: “You are being held back. Held back by a system that hoards power in Westminster.
“A system which smugly thinks it knows what skills, transport, planning and job support West Yorkshire needs better than the people who live here.
“I’ve long been convinced that this broken model has held back our politics and held back our economy. And I’m determined we unbind ourselves and free our potential.”
In response to the plans, a Government source said: “This report highlights what we already know about Labour – that while the Government is focusing on the major issues people care about, Keir Starmer is playing politics with topics only relevant in Westminster.”
