Non-affiliated members of the House of Lords are peers who do not belong to any parliamentary group in the House of Lords of the United Kingdom. They do not take a political party's whip, nor affiliate to the crossbench group, nor are they Lords Spiritual (active Church of England bishops). Formerly, the law lords were also a separate affiliation, but their successors (justices of the Supreme Court), if peers, are disqualified from sitting in the Lords until they no longer hold a judicial position. [1]
Most non-party Lords Temporal are crossbenchers. Peers may also be required to sit as non-affiliated while they hold certain senior positions within the Lords (e.g. the senior deputy speaker), as a means to preserve the neutrality of their official roles. Some members become non-affiliated after resigning or being expelled from a party, either through a political disagreement or after a scandal such as the 2009 parliamentary expenses scandal. Others have had no party allegiance and chose this designation rather than joining the crossbench. [2]
Although a member who is elected Lord Speaker must withdraw from any party affiliation, [3] he is not considered to be a non-affiliated peer.
The UK Parliament website lists the following non-affiliated members of the House of Lords, including those not currently eligible to sit in the Lords: [4]
Member | Previous affiliation | Reason for change |
---|---|---|
Lord Archer of Weston-Super-Mare | Conservative | Expelled following imprisonment for perjury[ citation needed ] |
Lord Austin of Dudley | Labour | Joined Lords without party affiliation |
Lord Black of Crossharbour | Conservative | Unaffiliated following conviction in the US of one count of mail fraud and one count of obstruction of justice, for which he served 37 months in prison[ citation needed ] |
Lord Boswell of Aynho | Conservative | Principal Deputy Chairman of Committees (2012–present) |
Lord Boyd of Duncansby | none | Currently ineligible as a Senator of the College of Justice |
Lord Brennan | Labour | |
Baroness Carr of Walton-on-the-Hill | none | Currently ineligible as Lady Chief Justice of England and Wales |
Lord Carter of Barnes | Labour | |
Baroness Chisholm of Owlpen | Conservative | |
Lord Cooper of Windrush | Conservative | Suspended from party whip after expressing support for Liberal Democrats in 2019 European Parliament elections |
Lord Darzi of Denham | Labour | Resigned from party whip in July 2019 in protest of the party's response to antisemitism complaints [5] |
Lord Davies of Abersoch | Labour | |
Lord Elis-Thomas | Plaid Cymru | |
Lord Faulks | Conservative | |
Baroness Foster of Aghadrumsee | Democratic Unionist Party | Joined Lords without party affiliation |
Baroness Fox of Buckley | Brexit | Joined Lords without party affiliation |
Lord Gadhia | Conservative | |
Lord Gardiner of Kimble | Conservative | Senior Deputy Speaker of the House of Lords (2021–present) |
Lord Grade of Yarmouth | Conservative | Chairman of Ofcom |
Lord Hanningfield | Conservative | Briefly suspended from the House following criminal conviction for false accounting[ citation needed ] |
Lord Heseltine | Conservative | Suspended from party whip after expressing support for Liberal Democrats in 2019 European Parliament elections |
Baroness Hoey | Labour | Joined Lords without party affiliation |
Lord Inglewood | Conservative | Excepted hereditary peer elected to Lords by Conservative hereditary peers |
Lord Kalms | Conservative | Expelled after supporting UKIP in 2009 European elections |
Lord Lupton | Conservative | |
Baroness McGregor-Smith | Conservative | |
Lord Mackenzie of Framwellgate | Labour | Following return from suspension from the House in connection with lobbying scandal[ citation needed ] |
Lord Mann | Labour | |
Lord Moore of Etchingham | none | Joined Lords without party affiliation |
Lord Oakeshott of Seagrove Bay | Liberal Democrat | Resigned from party whip in protest of party leadership [6] |
Lord Paddick | Liberal Democrat | Withdrew from Liberal Democrat whip during his advisory role with the Metropolitan Police [7] |
Lord Patel of Bradford | Labour | |
Lord Paul | Labour | Following return from suspension from the House in connection with expenses scandal[ citation needed ] |
Lord Pearson of Rannoch | UKIP | Resigned from party whip in protest of party leadership during Brexit negotiations |
Lord Prior of Brampton | Conservative | |
Lord Rosenfield | none | Joined Lords without party affiliation |
Lord Smith of Finsbury | Labour | |
Lord Stone of Blackheath | Labour | Suspended from party whip due to misconduct [8] |
Lord Taylor of Warwick | Conservative | Following return from suspension from the House in connection with expenses scandal and imprisonment for false accounting[ citation needed ] |
Lord Truscott | Labour | Resigned from party whip following the "cash for influence" allegations of 2009[ citation needed ] |
Lord Tyrie | Conservative | Entered the House without affiliation due to his role as Chairman of the Competition and Markets Authority |
Baroness Uddin | Labour | Following return from suspension from the House in connection with expenses scandal[ citation needed ] |
Baroness Vadera | Labour | |
Lord Verdirame | none | Joined Lords without party affiliation |
Lord Willoughby de Broke | UKIP | Excepted hereditary peer elected to Lords by Conservative hereditary peers Also previously switched affiliation to UK Independence Party |
There are other peers who list themselves as Independent within the House of Lords:
Member | Previous affiliation | Designation | Notes |
---|---|---|---|
Lord Maginnis of Drumglass | Ulster Unionist Party | Independent Ulster Unionist | Resigned from party whip following homophobic remarks [9] Currently suspended from the Lords |
Lord Owen | Crossbench | Independent Social Democrat | Left the Crossbench following a donation to Labour [10] |
Lord Stevens of Ludgate | UKIP | Conservative Independent | Expelled from Conservative whip in 2004 for supporting UKIP, [11] sat as Conservative Independent until 2012 |
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The House of Commons is the lower house of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. Like the upper house, the House of Lords, it meets in the Palace of Westminster in London, England. The House of Commons is an elected body consisting of 650 members known as members of Parliament (MPs). MPs are elected to represent constituencies by the first-past-the-post system and hold their seats until Parliament is dissolved.
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...whereas it is intended to substitute for the House of Lords as it at present exists a Second Chamber constituted on a popular instead of hereditary basis, but such substitution cannot be immediately brought into operation
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