Brown heads for Lords clash with Starmer

FORMER prime minister Gordon Brown has said the House of lords is ‘indefensible’ – as labour prepares to water down its reform of the upper chamber.

Mr Brown will publish a report today proposing an elected alternative called the Assembly of Nations and Regions, along with measures to tackle corruption. But it comes amid reports that labour leader Sir Keir Starmer may rethink his party’s plans for the lords.

The party may now pledge in its manifesto only to consult on reform. The move will infuriate Mr Brown, who has been working on the labour Party- commissioned report since 2020.

He is adamant change is needed, saying: ‘The current House of lords is indefensible. every second chamber in the world, with very few exceptions, is relatively small and usually smaller than the first chamber. We’ve now got a House of lords that has got 830 members. That is compared with the American senate which has 100 members to cover 300million people.’

He added the issue of lords reform will ‘come to a head again when Boris Johnson has a resignation honours list’.