Speeches by Thomas-Symonds.

“There are different aspects going on here regarding the appointments system. There are obviously the Cross Benchers, who are in their own category. It is a matter for party leaders who they seek to nominate through the usual channels in the usual way. I would not for a moment seek to look into the minds of the differen…”

“Listen, I am all for convenience. After Sam’s question, quite rightly holding me to account on the design of the dashboard, I will also take away and review how exactly we are presenting that on gov.uk as well.”

“Obviously, we are not an EU member state anymore, to state the obvious. So obviously we do not have representation in the European Parliament, we do not have commissioners and so on anymore. But that is not to say that my negotiating team is not engaging. This will obviously be fully scrutinised in Parliament because w…”

“I am interested to hear about that, and I will quite happily go back and have a look at that now that you have identified it to me, and as a historian I am always very interested in these things. I shall take it away and consider it.”

“Obviously, the broader appointments process is about much more than that and the assessment, so it is not a comment on the very detailed procedure that people have to go through to be appointed to the upper House. In terms of what is public—and a member of the public glancing down on it—it is not an unreasonable amount…”

“The first thing—and we have already done this—is to introduce citations for when people are appointed to the House of Lords. I always thought it was an anomaly that, in our honours system, if you were lucky enough to receive, say, an OBE, CBE or MBE—whatever it might be—there was a reason given, broadly speaking, for w…”

“First of all, the common understanding envisages that there would be certain carve-outs that we would require and would negotiate. That is the basis upon which we are negotiating. More broadly, though, on the point about rules, subject to that, the Government is taking a conscious decision to align with another high-st…”

“These are all matters now for that Committee to decide. I think the Lords plays a really important role in our constitutional arrangements; it brings expertise and a considered approach to debate that is greatly appreciated, so I certainly do not want to take away what is best about the House of Lords. But your points …”

“The other mechanism is around participation. There are people who are appointed peers and then do jobs of great public service. I am not talking about people like that, but that is one of the issues that the Committee that is now looking at the second stage of reform will consider. I have identified the issue around re…”

“You already have what was in the common understanding of May 2025, which I think was pretty detailed. It is not a legal text. We will obviously then publish the legal text when it is agreed at the summit, when we have set the date of the summit. But I should just surface the dilemma here: I am always keen to be as open…”

“Certainly, we are keen to look at it in the round, but it is also the case that we have a democratic mandate to deliver our programme. It is interesting that you used 1999 as the previous example. Obviously, what was happening then was that it was after the 1979 to 1997, 18-year period of Conservative Government, and w…”

“The point is this: there is no barrier to hereditary peers being appointed—I accept that it is slightly different for the Cross Benchers. For example, I understand that two Liberal Democrat hereditary peers have just been appointed as life peers. There is nothing stopping the Leader of the Opposition—who will obviously…”

“Well, the negotiations are taking place. I think we are 10 or 11 rounds in at the moment—Hermione can talk to that. What I have been delivering is the manifesto, and that is what we have set out. I have also given various speeches in public, setting out what I thought were the objectives of the negotiation. I gave quit…”

“The Parliament Act has been used very rarely. I sincerely hope that we do not get into that territory. That is not what I am seeking to do. I want it done in this Session, and that is exactly what we are seeking to do.”

“The best way for them to do that is to continue to do what they do: turn up at Cabinet Office questions and ask me questions about it, which they regularly do. To be clear, Markus, I am not ruling out appearing before that Committee. As I said in answer to a parliamentary question last week, there may be an appropriate…”

“The Standing Orders and procedures of the House of Lords are, obviously, a matter for them. I think that work on the abolition of the hereditary principle in our legislature is important. I think it is a first step. We now have a Committee, which has been set up by the Leader of the House of Lords and others, to look a…”

“Their lordships themselves will have answer as to what their motivation is, but I would just observe—to go back to 1911—that the history of reform being delayed is there in our UK political history.”

“Of course I would like it to be achieved very soon. I am not disappointed—in the sense that I never had an expectation, given the history of Lords reform, that this would happen quickly—but we are coming to the end of this parliamentary Session, so I would sincerely hope that it will be achieved soon.”

“Quite right. However, I have to make a judgment about the number of Committees that I appear before. If you saw the number of invitations I have, you would see that I could literally spend most of my time doing that. The issue about my role, as even our discussion has set out, is that it covers so many different Govern…”

“I understand.”