Voting for the current hereditary by-elections have begun for the replacement of the retired crossbencher Lord Northbourne where the applicant will be chosen by 31 hereditary peers of the Crossbench group and barring Countess Mar all of them are men.
Out of 211 on the hereditary peerage register held by the Clerks of Parliament, there is only one woman – effectively reserving the 90 electable hereditary seats in the House of Lords for men. This comes at a time when on Wednesday we mark the centenary of women's right to stand for elections to the Commons.
This is why campaigners have described the House of Lord by-election as a 'laughing stock' and Darren Hughes, Chief Executive of the Electoral Reform Soceity said-
“In the centenary year of women winning the right to stand for the Commons, it is a gross injustice that 90 seats in Parliament are effectively reserved for men. It’s time we called it a day on this bizarre experiment. The government must back Lord Grocott’s reform bill as the first step towards a fairly-elected Lords. Let’s end this silly side-show once and for all.”
