ELECTORAL reform campaigners stepped up calls for an overhaul of the House of Lords as the election of a new member was announced yesterday.

Lord Reay will join the house to replace Lord Skelmersdale, who died in October. He was one of 15 hereditary peers elected by the upper chamber in 1999, so his successor was chosen in the same way.

There were 16 candidates in the by-election, held under the alternative vote system, and 785 peers were eligible to take part.

To date, turnout in seven by-elections where the whole house was eligible to vote averaged about 48 per cent, according to campaign group the Electoral Reform Society (ERS).

Campaigners branded the Lords a “feudal relic.”

They also raised concerns at the practice of MPs who have lost their seats being returned to Parliament as peers.

Former Tory MP Nicola Blackwood was made a peer this month and returned to government as a health minister despite having lost her Oxford West and Abingdon seat to Liberal Democrat Layla Moran in 2017.

ERS chief executive Darren Hughes said: “These so-called by-elections would be funny if the stakes weren’t so high. These people can hold a huge sway over legislation and the issues that affect all of our lives.

“It’s about time we abolished this absurd practice and gave the public a say over who sits in our second chamber.

“The absurdity cannot go on – four of these ludicrous by-elections have had more candidates than voters.

“A real problem with peers is that voters can’t kick them out, but it turns out that being rejected by the voters is no barrier to joining in the first place.”