House of Lords

===Size===
The size of the House of Lords has varied greatly throughout its history. The English House of Lords—then comprising 168 members—was joined at Westminster by 16 Scottish peers to represent the peerage of Scotland—a total of 184 nobles—in 1707's first [[Parliament of Great Britain]]. A further 28 Irish members to represent the peerage of Ireland were added in 1801 to the first [[Parliament of the United Kingdom]]. From about 220 peers in the eighteenth century,<ref>Cook, C. and Stevenson, J. (1980). ''British Historical Facts 1760–1830''. London: Macmillan., p.50.</ref> the house saw continued expansion. From about 850 peers in 1951/52,<ref>{{cite web |url=https://constitution-unit.com/2017/12/22/the-size-of-the-house-of-lords-what-next/ |title=The size of the House of Lords: what next? |website=Constitution Unit |date=22 December 2017 |access-date=22 July 2021 }}</ref> the numbers rose further with more [[life peers]] after the Life Peerages Act 1958 and the inclusion of all Scottish peers and the first female peers in the [[Peerage Act 1963]]. It reached a record size of 1,330 in October 1999, immediately before the major Lords reform ([[House of Lords Act 1999]]) reduced it to 669, mostly life peers, by March 2000.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://publications.parliament.uk/pa/ld199900/ldbrief/10402.htm |title=House of Lords – Annual Report and Accounts 1999–2000 |publisher=[[Parliament of the United Kingdom]] |access-date=19 May 2008|quote=This major change had the effect of reducing the total membership of the House from 1,330 in October 1999 – the highest figure ever recorded – to 669 in March 2000}}</ref>
[[File:The size of the United Kingdom House of Lords since 1998.png|thumb|right|upright=1.36|The number of members of the House of Lords since 1998]]
The chamber's membership again expanded in the following decades, increasing to above eight hundred active members in 2014 and prompting further reforms in the [[House of Lords Reform Act 2014|House of Lords Reform Act]] that year.

In April 2011, a cross-party group of former leading politicians, including many senior members of the House of Lords, called on the Prime Minister [[David Cameron]] to stop creating new peers. He had created 117 new peers between entering office in May 2010 and leaving in July 2016, a faster rate of elevation than any PM in British history; at the same time his government had tried (in vain) to reduce the House of Commons by 50, from 650 to 600 MPs.<ref>{{cite news |last=Crick |first=Michael |url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/blogs/legacy/newsnight/michaelcrick/2011/04/stop_making_new_lords_politica.html |title=Stop making new lords, political big-wigs urge Cameron |work=[[BBC News]] |date=19 April 2011 |access-date=4 August 2014}}</ref>

In August 2014, despite there being a seating capacity for only around 230<ref name=BBCspace>{{cite news |title=Peers fight for space in crowded House |first1=James |last1=Lansdale |first2=Emma |last2=Bishop |url=https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-politics-28639453 |work=[[BBC News]] |date=5 August 2014 |access-date=23 November 2014}}</ref> to 400<ref name=guard/> on the benches in the Lords chamber, the House had 774 active members (plus 54 who were not entitled to attend or vote, having been suspended or granted leave of absence). This made the House of Lords the largest parliamentary chamber in any democracy.<ref name=guard>{{cite news |last=Ghose |first=Katie |url=https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2013/aug/01/crowded-house-too-many-lords |title=Crowded house – why we have too many lords |newspaper=[[The Guardian]] |date=1 August 2013 |access-date=4 August 2014}}</ref> In August 2014, former [[Speaker of the House of Commons (United Kingdom)|Speaker of the House of Commons]] [[Betty Boothroyd]] requested that "older peers should retire gracefully" to ease the overcrowding in the House of Lords. She also criticised successive prime ministers for filling the second chamber with "lobby fodder" in an attempt to help their policies become law. She made her remarks days before a new batch of peers were due to be created and several months after the passage of the [[House of Lords Reform Act 2014]], enabling life peers to retire or resign their seats in the House, which had previously only been possible for hereditary peers and bishops.<ref>{{cite news |last=Savage |first=Michael |url=http://www.thetimes.co.uk/tto/news/politics/article4166892.ece |title=Betty Boothroyd urges older peers to retire |newspaper=[[The Times]] |date=4 August 2014 |access-date=4 August 2014}}</ref><ref>{{cite journal|url=https://researchbriefings.parliament.uk/ResearchBriefing/Summary/SN06832|title=House of Lords Reform Act 2014|first=Richard|last=Kelly|date=1 July 2016|journal=Parliamentary Research Briefings|publisher=[[Parliament of the United Kingdom]]}}</ref>

In August 2015, when 45 more peers were created in the [[Dissolution Honours]], the total number of eligible members of the Lords increased to 826. In a report entitled "Does size matter?" the BBC said: "Increasingly, yes. Critics argue the House of Lords is the second largest legislature after the [[National People's Congress|Chinese National People's Congress]] and dwarfs upper houses in other bicameral democracies such as the United States (100 senators), France (348 senators), Australia (76 senators), Canada (105 appointed senators) and India (250 members). The Lords is also larger than the [[Supreme People's Assembly]] of North Korea (687 members). ... Peers grumble that there is not enough room to accommodate all of their colleagues in the Chamber, where there are only about 400 seats, and say they are constantly jostling for space – particularly during high-profile sittings", but added, "On the other hand, defenders of the Lords say that it does a vital job scrutinising legislation, a lot of which has come its way from the Commons in recent years".<ref name="BBC News 28 August 2015">{{cite news |title=House of Lords: Does size matter? |url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-33701011|author=<!--Staff writer(s); no by-line.-->|date=28 August 2015 |work=[[BBC News]] |access-date=28 August 2015}}</ref>

In late 2016, a Lord Speaker's committee was formed to examine the issue of overcrowding, with fears membership could swell to above 1,000, and in October 2017 the committee presented its findings. In December 2017, the Lords debated and broadly approved its report, which proposed a cap on membership at 600 peers, with a fifteen-year term limit for new peers and a "two-out, one-in" limit on new appointments. By October 2018, the Lord Speaker's committee commended the reduction in peers' numbers, noting that the rate of departures had been greater than expected, with the House of Commons [[Public Administration and Constitutional Affairs Select Committee]] approving the progress achieved without legislation.<ref>{{cite journal|url=https://researchbriefings.parliament.uk/ResearchBriefing/Summary/LLN-2019-0012|title=Size of the House of Lords: Recent Developments|first=Russell|last=Taylor|date=29 January 2019|journal=Parliamentary Research Briefings|publisher=[[Parliament of the United Kingdom]]}}</ref>

By April 2019, with the retirement of nearly one hundred peers since the passage of the House of Lords Reform Act 2014, the number of active peers had been reduced to a total of 782, of whom 665 were life peers.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://members.parliament.uk/members/Lords?membershipstatus=6&showadvanced=true|title=Find Members of the House of Lords – MPs and Lords – UK Parliament|website=members.parliament.uk}}</ref><ref name="parliament.uk">{{cite web|url=https://members.parliament.uk/parties/Lords|title=Lords membership – MPs and Lords |publisher=[[Parliament of the United Kingdom]]}}</ref> This total, however, remains greater than the membership of 669 peers in March 2000, after implementation of the [[House of Lords Act 1999]] removed the bulk of the hereditary peers from their seats; it is well above the proposed 600-member cap, and is still larger than the House of Commons's 650 members.