Labour’s cautionary tale: how hereditary peers clung on for 26 years

Delay in removing hereditaries from Lords illustrates how hard it will be to push through more significant changes

The only solid measure that Keir Starmer's government has introduced to change the House of Lords is on its way to becoming law, but not without last-ditch resistance.

Labour's manifesto promise to remove members of the House of Lords who vote in parliament's second chamber by birthright was the most straightforward change. The limited measure, an overdue completion of the removal of hereditary peers that began 26 years ago, is a further illustration of the constitutional difficulties of reforming parliament's second chamber.