FORTY peers have been reported to the authorities over alleged breaches to transparency rules, prompting fresh calls for reform of the second chamber. 

It comes after dozens of members of the House of Lords were found to have failed to declare details of private companies that they run despite being required to do so. 

According to Open Democracy, more than 40 peers have failed to stick to rules stating that if a lord is a company director, they should give a broad indication of the company’s business where this is not self-evident from its name.

They include Tory peer Lord Bamford, who owns bulldozer firm JCB, Lord Brennan and Labour peer Lord Carter of Coles. 

On Tuesday, a formal complaint was submitted to the Lords’ commissioner for standards by former Lib Dem MP Tom Brake, listing 40 of the 42 peers first identified as potentially flouting transparency rules. 

Mr Brake said the commissioner must promptly enforce the code of conduct “to ensure everyone knows what type of business peers are engaged in and how this might influence their activities in Parliament.”

The Electoral Reform Society (ERS) said the system was now “indefensible” and the revelations make our Parliament “the laughing stock of the democratic world.” 

ERS chief Darren Hughes said: “We’ve long known about the lack of accountability and transparency that plagues the House of Lords, and the fact that so many peers have failed to meet even the most lax of reporting rules raises serious questions about the extent and influence of outside interests in our second chamber.

“We must call time on this publicly funded private members’ club and replace them with a fairly elected second chamber. A chamber where the public, not politicians, decide on who makes our laws.”