BORIS Johnson does not intend to limit the number of peers in the House of Lords, it has emerged after calls for an inquiry into the institution.
Last year the Prime Minister and Keir Starmer came under fire after packing the unelected Chamber with further party donors, friends and apparatchiks.
The appointment of Vote Leave co-founder Peter Cruddas caused controversy as the commission in charge of new peerages raised objections to the candidate.
But Johnson brushed aside concerns from the House of Lords Appointment Commission to elevate him to the upper house.
READ MORE: SNP call for inquiry as London parties push yet more peers into House of Lords
A statement on the gov.uk website insisted Johnson had “considered the commission’s advice and wider factors and conclude that, exceptionally, the nomination should proceed”.
There were 52 appointments overall last year, taking the number of peers to more than 830 – second in size only to the National People’s Congress of China.
The system was described by SNP MP Tommy Sheppard as “broken beyond repair”.
It was recommended in the 2017 Burns Report that the number of peers is limited to 600, which would make it smaller than the elected House of Commons.
Now Cabinet Office minister Lord True has said Johnson doesn’t approve of the idea of limiting numbers in the Lords, and accused peers of having “unfairly attacked” Cruddas.
Lady Hayman, asking a private notice question, said of the Prime Minister: “He has now become the first prime minister to ever overturn the explicit advice of the Appointments Commission in relation to the propriety of an appointment, and this is not an ad hominem issue, it is an issue of real principle.”
READ MORE: SNP call for urgent review into Tories handing out life peerages to ‘chums’
In response Lord True said there are “no plans” to change the system, adding: “The House of Lords needs refreshing and the Prime Minister, as other prime ministers, is entitled to do that.”
He also said the reputation of the Lords rests “not on those who might come here soon but those of us who are here” and the way they conduct themselves.
Labour’s Baroness Blackstone said Mr Johnson was ignoring a cross-party agreement to stop the size of the Lords from growing each year, with Lord True replying: “So far as the Burns Report numbers, neither this Prime Minister nor the previous prime minister assented to any limit on numbers.”
Lord Jay of Ewelme, a former Holac chairman , said of the watchdog: “Its advice was accepted by all prime ministers from Tony Blair to Theresa May.
“If its advice is discounted, the system pretty quickly falls into disrepute.”
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