Labour kills off nearly 1,000 years of British history as controversial Lords plan passes

Sir Tony Blair first moved to scrap hereditary peers, who inherit their titles through birthright, in 1999.

Now, Sir Keir Starmer's Government will shelve the final 92 dukes, earls, viscounts and barons.

Lords Leader Baroness Smith said the deal will see the Government offer some life peerages to the Conservatives and crossbenchers, meaning some hereditaries are set to stay in the Lords.

The Tories then withdrew their opposition to the Bill.

Kemi Badenoch's party is said to have been offered the chance to keep on 15 hereditary peers as life peers - though will retire some of its existing life peers.

The PM will decide and announce the final number of life peerages offered to the Conservatives or any other parties.

Lord True, the Tory Lords leader, told the BBC he had accepted the compromise to end "eternal ping-pong" in Parliament.

While one of the axed hereditary peers, Charlie Courtenay, the Earl of Devon, said he believed the public "will miss us".

"We should be proud to sit here as embodiments of the hereditary principle dating back a millennium," he said.

One of those set to leave the chamber is the Duke of Norfolk, who can trace his ancient peerage back to 1138.

He is a descendant of King Edward I, with his seat the towering Arundel Castle in West Sussex.

Shortly after the General Election, Labour crowed that the peers' presence was "outdated and indefensible".

Seats in Parliament should not be "reserved for individuals who were born into certain families" nor "effectively reserved for men", the Government said in 2024.

Activists at the Electoral Reform Society similarly declared that their presence was a "blight on our democracy".

But proponents view the peers, like the monarchy, as a symbolic connection to British history and pageantry - as well as a necessary counterbalance to political appointments.

Last year, the Earl of Devon argued that hereditaries offer a "long-term, multi-generational view" and are less likely to be focused on short-term politics.

While Lord Hacking, one of just four Labour hereditary peers, predicted Tuesday's deal last year.

"I wouldn't say I'm happy to get rid of them," he told the BBC. "I'm sad but I think what will happen... is that the very best of the hereditary peers will be invited to have a life peerage."

Last night, a Government statement confirmed the Bill will come into effect at the end of this parliamentary session - expected to be in May.

Cabinet Office Minister Nick Thomas-Symonds said hereditary peerages "are an archaic and undemocratic principle".

"I am proud that we have fulfilled a key manifesto pledge of this Government," he said.

"Our Parliament should always be a place where talents are recognised and merit counts. It should never be a gallery of old boys' networks, nor a place where titles, many of which were handed out centuries ago, hold power over the will of the people."