麻豆约拍

The majority of hereditary peers were forced to give up their seats in 1999, but 92 were allowed to stay on. When one of these hereditary peers dies, there's a by-election. Sometimes, there are more candidates than voters. Now a Labour peer, Lord Grocott, wants to change the law to scrap what he says is a "laughable" and "indefensible" system.

The House of Lords Act 1999 (Amendment) Bill cleared its first parliamentary hurdle on Friday when peers gave the proposals a second reading without a vote. But not before one hereditary peer, Lord Mancroft, a Conservative, had told his colleagues, "we don't do our job as well as we used to". He said debates in the House of Lords had become, "a string of overlong statements with precious little relevance to the previous speakers".

Presenter: Mark D'Arcy
Editor: Sean Curran.