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THE SNP has called for an urgent review into “Westminster sleaze” after new analysis revealed the Tory government has handed out a “staggering” number of life peerages since 2010.
The party has listed the hundreds of life peerages handed out under the Tory government since 2010, pointing to this as evidence the House of Lords is contributing to the failure of British democracy.
The House of Lords — the second largest unelected legislative body in the world— has now ballooned to accommodate around 800 peers after 363 life peerages were granted in the past 11 years.
About 170 of these “jobs for life” in the unelected House of Lords have been given to Tory politicians and advisers.
The SNP is now calling for an urgent review into the “honours-for-chums” crisis that it says “threatens the credibility of our democracy.”
The party’s House of Lords spokesman Tommy Sheppard MP said: “It is an affront to our democracy that the Tories have been allowed to stuff the House of Lords with their party chums, election losing has-beens and Whitehall cronies.
“In a year when many working families have faced job losses and financial insecurities, it is sickening that Boris Johnson has chosen to dish out so many of these £300-a-day jobs-for- life to the likes of Ruth Davidson and even his own brother Jo Johnson.”
The party reiterated its calls for the abolition of the Lords, insisting it should be replaced by an “elected chamber.”
Mr Sheppard added: “These Lords are unelected and unaccountable.
“It’s time to pull the brakes on this gravy train and urgently review this honours-for-chums scandal.”