Britain has taken a step towards democracy by removing the hereditary legislators from Parliament.
On 10 March the House of Lords (Hereditary Peers) Bill finally became law, despite the efforts of hereditary legislators and other legislators-for-life to block it. The bill takes away the right of some so-called-lords to inherit a seat in Parliament from a parent.
However, in a compromise agreed to get the bill through the House of Lords some of the hereditary legislators will keep their seats by becoming “life peers”, which means they can continue as legislators until they die.
In the words of the electoral Reform Society “This looks farcical. The principle that inherited seats should have no place in our democracy is made a mockery of if the very same people are given a lifetime appointment by a different means”.
The struggle to make Britain a democracy has not ended.