Labour is to appoint dozens of peers within weeks in an attempt to push through its policies and improve the representation of women in the House of Lords, the Guardian has learned. Senior Labour figures have drawn up a list of peerages to bolster the party benches and help implement its legislative programme if it wins the election on 4 July. The Conservatives have 104 more peers than Labour, while fewer than a third of the 784 members of parliament’s second chamber are women. The plan comes despite Keir Starmer’s pledge to eventually abolish the Lords and amid growing concerns over the ballooning size and cost of the chamber. Starmer’s advisers and shadow ministers have successfully argued he needs to make the appointments in the short term. A number of Labour sources said there was a determination to increase the number of female peers and to appoint people who would be active. Several women currently outside politics are being lined up for peerages so they can also serve as ministers in a Labour government. Sue Gray, Starmer’s chief of staff, is drawing up the list with Morgan McSweeney, the campaign director, closely involved. “Sue Gray has the pen on the list,” a senior party figure said. There are now 171 Labour peers, of which about 130 reliably turn up to vote on a day-to-day basis. The Conservatives have 275 peers, the Liberal Democrats 79, and 180 peers are non-aligned. It means that unless Starmer appoints about 100 peers, the Tories will outnumber Labour in the upper chamber. The list of planned Labour appointments is closely guarded, but insiders believe there could be about 30 in the first few weeks of a Starmer government. These are likely to come in multiple lists, starting with a dissolution honours list of retiring MPs and then lists of working peers and ministers. Thangam Debbonaire, the shadow culture secretary, who faces a challenge from the Greens in the Bristol Central seat, could be given a place in the Lords if she loses. The party may also draw from the business world, with some tipping the outgoing John Lewis chair, Sharon White, for a ministerial role. Retiring MPs such as Margaret Beckett, 81, Margaret Hodge, 79 and Harriet Harman, 73, have been tipped for peerages in the dissolution list.
During one internal conversation about the appointments, the example of Digby Jones – who was handed a peerage in 2007 and made a trade minister but resigned from Gordon Brown’s government barely a year later – was raised as a cautionary tale. Jones was a former director general of the Confederation of British Industry and his swift departure caused embarrassment for Brown at the time. “We need people who are willing to do the work and do the hard yards, and do it for a long period of time,” a senior Labour official said. “[Labour’s leader in the Lords] Angela Smith and [opposition chief whip] Roy Kennedy have been saying: if you want to get your legislation through you’re going to have to appoint a load. We are at risk early on of having things delayed if we don’t address the balance.” The plans could trigger a backlash given the size of the Lords and Labour’s commitment to abolishing it. While most peers do not receive a salary, they can claim a daily attendance allowance of £361. Smith said in May that the upper chamber should be the same size or smaller than the Commons, which has 650 members. She told the public administration and constitutional affairs committee that she wanted to see “roughly equal numbers between the government and the major opposition party” in the Lords, and that this could be achieved over time. Labour is committed to replacing the Lords with an alternative second chamber and has said it would consult on proposals for one if it enters government. Brown chaired a commission on Lords reform for Starmer which published its conclusions in 2022. Though Labour’s manifesto pledges to introduce a retirement age of 80 for peers, they will be allowed to keep their seats until the end of the parliament. That means that peers such as Alf Dubs, the 91-year-old who came to Britain as a child fleeing the Nazis and now campaigns for refugees, could stay on until the next election. The party’s manifesto states: “Reform is long overdue and essential. Too many peers do not play a proper role in our democracy. Hereditary peers remain indefensible. And because appointments are for life, the second chamber of parliament has become too big.” Last year Starmer vowed never to produce a resignation honours list if he becomes prime minister. Asked by BBC Radio 4’s Today programme if he would hand out resignation honours, Starmer said: “No … Tony Blair didn’t have a resignation list. It’s very hard to justify.” In the most recent set of political peerages this year, Labour nominated four people: Ayesha Hazarika, a broadcaster and former special adviser; Jane Ramsey, a former Labour standards and ethics adviser; John Hannett, a former head of the Usdaw shopworkers’ union; and Gerald Shamash, a solicitor to the party. A Labour source said: “The general election is far from over, there are still two weeks to go and the focus in Labour HQ is still firmly on the election campaign, not on handing out jobs. Labour’s manifesto clearly sets out Labour’s long-term commitment to replacing the House of Lords with an alternative second chamber, and any proposals would be consulted on.”