HL Deb 14 October 1997 vol 582 cc191-2WA
Lord Dean of Beswick

asked Her Majesty's Government:

In the light of the reply by the Lord Privy Seal on 22 July (WA 151), whether the Prime Minister will take account of the imbalance between the parties in the number of creations when he makes any future nominations.

Lord Richard

Her Majesty's Government is of the view that no one political party should seek a majority in this House. Our plans to remove the right of the hereditary peers to sit and vote in the House will still leave an imbalance in party representation. Following the removal of the hereditary peers, we have made it clear that, over the course of this Parliament we will seek to move to a House where those peers who take a party whip more accurately reflect the proportion of votes received by each party in the previous general election.