Regional Representation in the House of Lords

This House of Lords Library briefing presents data on the regional background of the House of Lords within the context of continued interest in the composition of the House of Lords.

An elected upper chamber featured as a commitment in several political party manifestos at the 2019 general election. For example, the Labour Party said it would replace the Lords with an elected senate of the nations and regions and the Conservative Party’s manifesto said it would establish a constitution, democracy and rights commission to examine a range of issues, including the role of the House of Lords. This commission may suggest further Lords reform. This briefing updates the previous edition with data from June 2019. Primarily, it presents information on the regions of Members’ registered addresses, as recorded in the expenses system. It provides a comparison with data for 2011, 2013 and 2016 to give an indication of trends in regional representation. It also looks at regions represented by former MPs and MEPs, members of the devolved legislatures and local councillors.

Of those Members who elected to have the broad location of their registered addresses (county or equivalent) included in the expenses claims data published on Parliament’s website for June 2019:

• 43.6 percent were in London or the South East of England
• 9.0 percent were in Scotland
• 3.8 percent were in Wales
• 2.3 percent were in Northern Ireland
• Of the remaining English regions percentages were as follows:

• East of England, 10.9 percent
• South West, 9.4 percent
• Yorkshire and the Humber, 6.1 percent
• North West, 4.6 percent
• West Midlands, 3.6 percent
• North East, 3.3 percent
• East Midlands, 2.7 percent

• 0.8 percent were overseas