Hereditary by-elections results: 2002 to 2024

Approximate read time: 10 minutes

1. What were hereditary by-elections?

Section 1 of the House of Lords Act 1999 excluded most hereditary peers from the House of Lords. However, under section 2 of the same act, a minority of hereditary peers were excepted from exclusion. Seventy-five members were elected by their fellow party/group colleagues and 15 were elected by the whole House to remain as members. In addition to these 90 members, two peers—the earl marshal and the lord great chamberlain—remained members of the Lords by virtue of the royal offices they held. These 92 peers were collectively referred to as ‘excepted’ hereditary peers.

Although the maximum number of excepted hereditary peers was 92, the number in the House at any one time could be lower as a result of temporarily unfilled vacancies. Some hereditary peers who were members of the House prior to the 1999 act coming into force were also given life peerages. However, these members sat by virtue of their life peerage and did not count towards the number of excepted hereditary peers.

Prior to the 2002–03 session, any vacancy that arose amongst the 90 hereditary peers was filled by the nearest runner-up in the original ballots held in October and November 1999. From the start of the 2002–03 session, when one of the hereditary peers who was not a royal office holder died, retired or ceased to be a member through non-attendance, a replacement was chosen in a by-election. Hereditary peers outside of Parliament wishing to stand in a by-election were listed in a register of hereditary peers, maintained and published by the clerk of the parliaments.

After the death of Queen Elizabeth II in 2022, the maximum number of excepted hereditary peers, including the two royal office holders, fell to 91. This was because, following King Charles III coming to the throne, the holder of the office of lord great chamberlain changed. The new lord great chamberlain was Lord Carrington (Crossbench). Lord Carrington was already a member, having joined the House following a by-election in 2018. Under the 1999 act, Lord Carrington becoming lord great chamberlain did not trigger a new by-election.

2. Who voted in by-elections?

The House of Lords Act 1999 required that the process for replacing hereditary peers should involve by-elections. However, beyond this requirement, the act said the process for replacing members should be agreed by the House in the standing orders. The House of Lords agreed standing order 9 on 26 July 1999.1 This required that a by-election be held within three months of a vacancy being created among the excepted hereditary peers. The House subsequently agreed a further standing order (standing order 10) on 23 January 2001 which allowed hereditary peers who had not previously received a writ of summons to be added to the register of hereditary peers in order to stand in by-elections.2

Under standing order 9, there were two different types of by-election. While most excepted hereditary peers were voted for by hereditary peers from their own party or group, some were elected by the whole House.

Replacements for most peers (75) were voted for by the other excepted hereditary peers in a particular party or by the Crossbench hereditary peers. In 1999, this group of excepted hereditary peers were allocated proportionally to reflect the affiliations of the hereditary peers who sat prior to the 1999 act as follows:

• 42 were elected by Conservative hereditary peers
• two were elected by Labour hereditary peers
• three were elected by Liberal Democrat hereditary peers
• 28 were elected by Crossbench hereditary peers

Under the standing orders, 15 hereditary peers were elected by the whole House.3 These 15 were originally elected “from among those ready to serve as deputy speakers or in any other office as the House may require”. However, hereditary peers standing in by-elections to replace one of these 15 were not expected to serve as a deputy speaker.4 In accordance with an informal agreement between the parties and groups in the House of Lords, it was expected that their successor would sit as a member of the same party or group as the member they replaced.5 During the period by-elections were in place, the successful candidates among the 15 were always members of the same party or group as the hereditary peer being replaced.

3. How many by-elections were held?

Prior to 2002, two vacancies arising amongst the then 90 hereditary peers were filled by the nearest runner-up in the original ballots. When Baroness Wharton (Crossbench) died in May 2000, she was replaced by Lord Cobbold (Crossbench). Similarly, when the Earl of Carnarvon (Crossbench) died in September 2001, he was replaced by Lord Chorley (Crossbench).

Between 2002 and 2024, there were 49 by-elections. This included by-elections where multiple candidates were selected on the same ballot. This occurred following the creation of two or more vacancies in close succession for the same group.

Over the same period, 57 hereditary peers joined the House of Lords following by-elections. Of these, 42 were elected following by-elections involving only hereditary peers of the relevant party or by the Crossbench hereditary peers. The remaining 15 were elected following by-elections involving the whole House.

The Excel table attached to this page provides details of by-elections held between 2002 and the pausing of by-elections in 2024 prior to the removal of the remaining excepted hereditary peers at the end of the 2024–26 session.

4. Pausing of by-elections

In its manifesto for the 2024 general election, Labour committed to remove the right of hereditary peers to sit and vote in the House of Lords.6 The government announced in the 2024 King’s Speech that it would introduce the House of Lords (Hereditary Peers) Bill, a bill to remove hereditary peers from the House of Lords.7 The House of Lords (Hereditary Peers) Bill was introduced in the House of Commons on 5 September 2024.

In July 2024, the House of Lords passed an amendment to the standing orders changing the requirement to hold a by-election within three months of a vacancy to 18 months.8 This had the effect of pausing by-elections during the period when the House was expected to be debating the House of Lords (Hereditary Peers) Bill. Introducing the motion to amend the standing orders, Leader of the House of Lords Baroness Smith of Basildon described the change as a “temporary measure” which reflected the fact the House would be debating the wider issue of the continued membership of the excepted hereditary peers in more detail in the “near future”.9 She also said the amendment had received the support of the “usual channels” including the Crossbench convener and the leader of the Conservatives in the House of Lords.10 The Crossbench group and the Conservatives both had vacancies that would normally be filled by by-elections.

These two vacancies were created following:

• The Earl of Sandwich (Crossbench) retiring on 20 May 2024.
• Lord Willoughby de Broke (non-affiliated) ceasing to be a member on 9 July 2024 due to non-attendance during the 2023–24 session. Lord Willoughby de Broke had been a Conservative at the time of his election following the House of Lords Act 1999 meaning this vacancy would have triggered a by-election in which the electorate would have been Conservative hereditary peers.

By September 2025, the House of Lords (Hereditary Peers) Bill was still progressing through parliament. On 22 October 2025, the House of Lords passed a further amendment to the standing orders to extend the period for which by-elections would be paused from 18 months to 36 months.11 When introducing the motion to amend the standing orders, Baroness Smith told the House this extension had been agreed by the usual channels.

5. Passing of the House of Lords (Hereditary Peers) Act 2026

The House of Lords (Hereditary Peers) Bill eventually completed its parliamentary stages on 10 March 2026 and received royal assent on 18 March 2026. The remaining excepted hereditary peers who had not already retired or been given life peerages left the House of Lords at the end of the 2024–26 session. Three excepted hereditary peers were given life peerages before the act came into force and a further 26 life peerages for former excepted hereditary peers were announced on 12 May 2026.12 Further information on the passage of the House of Lords (Hereditary Peers) Act 2026 through Parliament and the impact of the changes to membership of the House of Lords is provided in the following House of Lords Library briefings:

• House of Lords Library, ‘House of Lords reform: Hereditary members at the end of the 2024-26 session’, 14 May 2026
• House of Lords Library, ‘House of Lords (Hereditary Peers) Act 2026: How was it amended as it went through Parliament?’, 13 April 2026

6. Last by-election

The last by-election took place on 21 and 22 November 2023. This was a by-election in which the whole House could vote and was to replace Lord Brougham and Vaux (Conservative), who had died. The successful candidate was Lord Camoys (Conservative).

7. Suspension and resumption of by-elections during the Covid-19 pandemic

By-elections were also suspended for a time during the Covid-19 pandemic.

On 23 March 2020, the House of Lords agreed a motion to suspend the standing order requiring that a hereditary by-election be held within three months of a vacancy occurring.13 This was one of several measures recommended by the House of Lords Procedure and Privileges Committee in response to the Covid-19 pandemic.

This suspension was extended several times. On 7 September 2020, the House agreed a motion to extend the suspension of hereditary by-elections until 31 December 2020.14 On 14 December 2020, the House agreed a motion to extend the suspension of hereditary by-elections pending a further report from the Procedure and Privileges Committee in the new year.15

On 8 February 2021, the House of Lords Procedure and Privileges Committee published a report recommending the continuation of the suspension of by-elections.16 It also recommended that the position should be reviewed after Easter 2021. On 22 February 2021, the House of Lords approved a motion to suspend by-elections pending a review by the Procedure and Privileges Committee after the Easter recess.17 The committee announced on 26 April 2021 that hereditary by-elections would resume.18 It also announced by-elections would be held electronically.19

Five vacancies occurred in 2020 and 2021 while the by-elections were suspended and a further one arose on the day the Procedure and Privileges Committee announced that by-elections would resume. By-elections to fill these vacancies took place in June and July 2021 (in one case, no ballot was held as there was only one candidate).

8. Read more

• UK Parliament, ‘By-elections in the House of Lords’, accessed 15 May 2022
• House of Lords Library, ‘House of Lords Act 1999: Twenty years on’, 5 November 2019
• House of Lords Library, ‘Hereditary peers in the House of Lords since 1999’, 27 March 2014

Image © House of Lords 2025 / photography by Roger Harris

Footnotes

• 1 HL Hansard, 26 July 1999, cols 1290–2.
• 2 HL Hansard, 23 January 2001, cols 134–5.
• 3 House of Lords, ‘The standing orders of the House of Lords relating to public business’, 2021, p 3.
• 4 House of Lords Procedure Committee, ‘Third report’, 6 July 1999, HL Paper 81 of session 1998–99.
• 5 House of Lords, ‘Notice to electors: Hereditary peers’ by-election’, 20 October 2023.
• 6 Labour Party, ‘Labour Party manifesto 2024’, June 2024, p 108.
• 7 HL Hansard, 17 July 2024, cols 7–10.
• 8 HL Hansard, 25 July 2024, cols 624–7.
• 9 HL Hansard, 25 July 2024, col 624.
• 10 HL Hansard, 25 July 2024, col 624.
• 11 HL Hansard, 22 October 2025, cols 817–18.
• 12 Prime Minister’s Office, ‘Political peerages December 2025’, 10 December 2025; and ‘Political peerages May 2026’, 12 May 2026.
• 13 HL Hansard, 23 March 2020, col 1638.
• 14 HL Hansard, 7 September 2020, cols 542–6.
• 15 HL Hansard, 14 December 2020, col 1437.
• 16 House of Lords Procedure and Privileges Committee, ‘Sixth report’, 8 February 2021, HL Paper 223 of session 2019–21.
• 17 HL Hansard, 22 February 2021, col 708.
• 18 House of Lords Procedure and Privileges Committee, ‘Resumption of hereditary peers’ by-elections’, HL Paper 273 of session 2019–21, 26 April 2021.
• 19 House of Lords Procedure and Privileges Committee, ‘Minutes of the meeting held via Microsoft Teams on Thursday 22 April 2021’, 22 April 2021.