Calls for end to ‘practice of patronage’ in House of Lords as new resignation honours announced

Campaigners renew calls for reform to the House of Lords appointments process as government reveals new resignation honours appointments. 

As the Government today announced seven new peerages, including five ex-ministers, Transparency International UK has renewed calls for an end to the Prime Minister’s unfettered power to make appointments to the House of Lords including once they have left office through resignation honours. 

The anti-corruption charity is also calling for the powers of the independent House of Lords Appointments Committee to be strengthened to reduce corruption risks that have previously seen a worrying number of political donors given jobs for life in parliament’s second chamber. 

Rose Whiffen, Senior Research Officer at Transparency International UK said: 

 “As the Government takes steps to remove hereditary peers from the House of Lords, it should consider further reforms to ensure Members are appointed on merit rather than through mere patronage, and that the powers of the House of Lords Appointments Commission are expanded. 

“The modest improvements requiring public citations to justify these nominations are a helpful nudge towards more proper considerations than we have seen in the past. However, these are only informal changes and provide little assurance that the House of Lords will be adequately protected from future abuses, such as the award of peerages to major political donors.  

“The Prime Ministers and former Prime Minister’s discretion over appointments should be greatly curtailed. A more objective appointment system already exists through the House of Lords Appointment Commission (HOLAC), which operates a robust application and assessment process. Yet political appointments leave little room for it to be used.  
 
“Without meaningful reform, political appointments to the House of Lords may continue to fuel perceptions of patronage, which are increasingly out of step with the new Government’s commitment to restoring public trust, driving standards, and modernising our institutions.” 

In April 2024, Transparency International UK research revealed the worrying scale of patronage in political appointments. The research showed that over one in five individuals appointed to the House of Lords between 2013 and 2023 were political donors.   

Reducing Corruption Risks in a Reformed House of Lords called for actionable reforms to appointment and conduct rules of the House of Lords aimed at reducing corruption risks in the second chamber.  

Recommendations include: 

1. Parliament should legislate to end the Prime Minister’s unfettered power to make appointments to the House of Lords, and scrap resignation honours. Pending legislative reform, Prime Ministers should commit themselves to ending the custom of resignation honours.
2. The UK Government should bring forward legislation to put the House of Lords Appointments Commission (HOLAC) on a statutory footing.
3. HOLAC should have the power to veto nominations they deem unsuitable or improper.