Two thousand apply to become Lords

About a dozen members of the public will become life peers

About 2,000 people have applied to become members of the House of Lords, as the deadline for nominations closes on Friday.

I came to England in 1956. I faced unemployment, homelessness and racial discrimination

Mustaq Quereshi, Lords applicant

This is the first wave of applications to become one of the dozen or so 'people's peers' who are part of New Labour's ongoing process of reforming the upper house.

Once processed the successful candidates will be selected to sit on the cross benches of the upper chamber in a bid to open it up to a wider cross-section of the community.

More than 10,000 people sent off for application packs when the scheme was launched in September but only about a fifth of those have decided to nominate themselves.

The People's Lords, as the new members are already being called, will not receive a salary but will be given the same benefits as other peers.

This means they can claim up £84 a day for an overnight stay, £37 a day subsistence allowance and £36 a day for secretarial help. They will also be able to claim travelling expenses.

Shortlist

A new non-partisan appointments committee is preparing to sift through the applications and aims to hand an initial shortlist to the prime minister in early Spring.

One applicant, Mustaq Quereshi, a Labour councillor from London, believes ethnic minorities have a lot to offer the upper house.

"I came to England in 1956. I faced unemployment, homelessness and racial discrimination.

"I have overcome all of these and I want to bring my experience to the upper house," he told the BBC's One O'Clock News.

Criteria for becoming a Lord

Outstanding personal integrity

Strong commitment to high standards in public life

Significant achievement in their field

Able to make an effective contribution to Lords

Independent of political parties

Enough time to take part in debates

Committee chairman Lord Dennis Stevenson believes the appointments will invigorate the upper chamber, drawing in more women members and people from ethnic minorities.

"This is a process which has traditionally been locked away in a cupboard somewhere in Downing Street.

"We have opened it up and by doing that we hope we will get outstanding applications from groups who are perhaps at the moment not represented or under-represented in the House of Lords," Lord Stevenson said.

The commission will also vet the nominations of the political parties and oversee the honours system. It was set up by the prime minister last May.

It is made up of three independent members and three nominated by the main political parties, and will make recommendations to the Queen on the basis of individual merit.

Labour is committed to further reform of the House of Lords, but there is still no agreement on how many peers should be elected, and how many appointed, in a future upper chamber.

A number of Labour MPs are opposed to the proposals in the Wakeham Commission which reported in January, and called for a mixture of elected and appointed members.