BBC News | LORDS REFORM | The timetable for reform

1 May 1997 Labour elected on a platform, which includes stripping away the sitting and voting rights of hereditary peers
24 November 1998 The government unveils its plans to expel hereditary peers from Parliament
2 December 1998William Hague sacks Viscount Cranborne as Tory leader in the Lords after he goes behind his leader's back to negotiate a deal with Tony Blair to keep on some hereditary peers in the Lords on a temporary basis.
12 May 1999 Lord Wakeham's commission hears its first public evidence.
17 June 1999 the government announces the creation of 40 new life peers. This move will give Labour a slight edge of the Tories in the Lords once the hereditaries are removed
27 July 1999 Lord Wakeham chairs the final public hearing on Lords reform in London
27 July 1999 Lord Mayhew wins the right to lodge a legal challenge to the governments plans to expel hereditary peers
22 October 1999 Names of candidates published for those hereditary peers who hope to remain after the first stage of reform under the deal agreed with the government.
27-28 October Election of 15 Deputy Speakers and other office holders
29 October Count takes place and the names of the remaining 75 hereditary peers to be elected are published.
5 November Count takes place, the Clerk of the Parliaments will report the result of the elections to the House at its next sitting.
18 January 2000 Lord Wakeham's commission will deliver its report.


		^^ Back to top News Front Page \| World \| UK \| UK Politics \| Business \| Sci/Tech \| Health \| Education \| Entertainment \| Talking Point \| In Depth \| AudioVideo ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------- To BBC Sport>> \| To BBC Weather>> ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------- © MMIII \| News Sources \| Privacy