David Cameron warned he faces a tough battle to win over Lords

Up for the fight: Baroness Shephard said Labour and Lib-Dem peers have set the stage for “lots of late nights” (Picture: Garry Knight/Creative Commons and PA)

Joe Watts

12 May 2015

Tory grandee Baroness Shephard today warned David Cameron that he faces a mammoth task pushing Tory pledges through the House of Lords.

The former Cabinet minister said Labour and Liberal Democrat peers who vastly outnumber Tories have set the stage for “lots of late nights”.

But she cautioned the Prime Minister against stuffing the Lords with new friendly peers, claiming it would damage the House’s reputation.

There has been speculation Mr Cameron will hand peerages to former coalition ministers voted out in the election.

Meanwhile a Labour Lord today threatened to join Lib-Dems to block parts of the Tory manifesto which went against “the will of the people”.

Former cabinet minister Baroness Shephard, who served in John Major’s government, told the Standard: “It’s true that if all the Liberal Democrats [in the Lords] move to opposition we are very much outnumbered.

“But there is also lots of anxiety in the Lords that the appointment of new peers will not do the reputation of the House any good.”

She argued Mr Cameron should rely on negotiation, persuading crossbenchers and using the Parliament Act to pass legislation.

Baroness Shephard went on: “While things could be hard, it’ll be lively and there will be lots of late nights, with manifesto commitments the elected Government of the day must have its way.”

The Conservatives currently have 224 Peers, compared to Labour’s 213 and the Lib-Dems’ 101. Other parties have 15 peers, there are 22 non-affiliated and 149 crossbenchers.

Even with Lib-Dems in coalition Mr Cameron struggled in the Lords, but he must now push through major constitutional changes, a British Bill of Rights and an EU referendum, without their support. Labour peer Jim Knight claimed that where the Labour and Lib-Dem manifestos aligned, the two parties arguably had a mandate to block Tory commitments. He said: “We’ve got to respect democracy and manifesto commitments, but seek to improve the legislation that implements them.

“There may be instances where the majority of people that voted in the election backed something, say because it was similar in both the Labour and Lib-Dem manifestos.

“You could argue therefore that it was the will of the people, and therefore [if a Tory manifesto pledge went against it] you may be able to justify blocking it.”

Both parties were against the Tories’ proposed £12 billion welfare cuts and specifically against plans to protect wealthy pensioners’ benefits.

There has been speculation Mr Cameron may offer peerages to former coalition ministers Esther McVey, David Laws, Danny Alexander and Vince Cable.

David Cameron warned he faces a tough battle to win over Lords

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