Current Composition
As of 8 October 2012 (2012 -10-08), the composition of the House of Lords is:
| Affiliation | Life peers | Hereditary peers | Lords spiritual | Total | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Labour | 221 | 4 | – | 225 | |
| Conservative | 163 | 49 | – | 212 | |
| Liberal Democrats | 86 | 4 | – | 90 | |
| Democratic Unionist | 4 | - | – | 4 | |
| Ulster Unionist | 3 | - | – | 3 | |
| UKIP | 2 | 1 | – | 3 | |
| Plaid Cymru | 2 | - | – | 2 | |
| Crossbenchers | 145 | 31 | – | 176 | |
| Lords Spiritual | – | – | 25 | 25 | |
| Other | 20 | - | – | 20 | |
| Total | 646 | 89 | 25 | 760 | |
Note: These figures exclude 39 Members who are on leave of absence, 13 who are disqualified as senior members of the judiciary and one who is disqualified as an MEP.
The House of Lords Act 1999 allocated 75 of the 92 hereditary peers to the parties based on the proportion of hereditary peers that belonged to that party in 1999:
- Conservative Party: 42 peers
- Labour Party: 2 peers
- Liberal Democrats: 3 peers
- Crossbenchers: 28 peers
Of the initial 42 hereditary peers elected as Conservatives, one (Lord Willoughby de Broke) now sits as UKIP.
15 hereditary peers are elected by the whole House, and the remaining hereditary peers are the two royal office-holders, the Earl Marshal and the Lord Great Chamberlain, both being currently on leave of absence.
One peer elected by the Crossbenchers is also currently on leave of absence.
A report in 2007 stated that many members of the Lords (particularly the life peers) do not attend regularly; the average daily attendance was around 408.
While the number of hereditary peers is limited to 92, and that of Lords spiritual to 26, there is no maximum limit to the number of life peers who may be members of the House of Lords at any time.
Read more about this topic: House Of Lords
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