The Speaker of the House of Lords has called on the prime minister to limit the size of the upper house and put an end to resignation honours. Peers had previously recommended a cap of 600 members in 2017, but the number has continued to grow, with the latest report suggesting there are now 824 members. This makes the House of Lords one of the largest scrutiny chambers in the world, second only to China’s National People’s Congress. Lord McFall, writing in The Telegraph, announced that he would be meeting with Rishi Sunak to push for the recommendations of a new report by a cross-party committee of senior peers. The report, also published on Monday, proposes a fixed-term limit for service in the Lords, potentially around 15 years, as well as a fairer allocation of new appointments based on election results. These reforms are seen to be urgent in light of the potential for a Labour victory in the next general election. Labour peers are currently outnumbered by Tory members in the Lords, but if Labour comes into power, they would need to increase their representation in the upper house to avoid continual defeats, further expanding its size. The committee also addressed concerns about Boris Johnson’s resignation honours list, stating that it has brought into question the current system for creating new peers. The report noted that Johnson made far more appointments than the target set by the House of Lords, and that these appointments were predominantly granted to members of his own party. The committee emphasized the need for a sustainable appointments system and urged the political parties to agree on a fair method of allocating appointments. Lord McFall stressed the importance of these reforms in restoring voter confidence and public faith in the independence and expertise of the House of Lords.