Electoral Reform Society questions value offered by the ‘worrying number of couch-potato peers and lobby-fodder lords’More than 100 peers have claimed almost £1.3m between them despite not having spoken in the House of Lords for at least nine months, according to a pressure group. The society claims to have analysed 779 peers’ voting, speaking and expenses records between June 2016 and 27 April 2017. It concluded that £4,086,000 was claimed by 277 peers who spoke five times or fewer in the past year. The most active 300 peers claimed just half the expenses, “showing the size of the Lords can be cut without significantly limiting its work”, according to the ERS. “There are a worrying number of couch-potato peers and lobby-fodder lords at a time when there is plenty to scrutinise,” he said.

Source: The Guardian September 20, 2017 22:52 UTC