Former Scottish Labour leader Wendy Alexander and ex-No 10 chief-of-staff Sue Gray are among 30 appointees to the House of Lords by Sir Keir Starmer as he looks to pack more supporters into the second chamber.
Despite its huge majority in the Commons, the Labour leader believes he needs to strengthen its ranks in the Lords to push through laws that face significant Tory opposition.
At present Labour has 185 peers against 271 Conservatives. If Labour’s bill to remove hereditary peers is passed it will narrow the gap, giving Labour 211 peers, with the Tories on 232.
While Labour previously aimed to abolish and replace the Lords, it has now shelved the plan – another Starmer u-turn – and is consulting on plans for an alternative second chamber. It also wants new participation rules and a retirement age of 80.
The others include ex-shadow Scottish Secretary Margaret Curran, while former UK government minister Therese Coffey and Toby Young of The Spectator magazine are among six nominated by the Tories.
There are six former union bosses among Sir Keir’s nominees, including Sir Brendan Barber, the former general secretary of the TUC, nine ex-MPs, two former MEPs and Carwyn Jones, who was first minister of Wales for almost a decade. Thangam Debonaire, who the voters of Bristol Central rejected in July, will now become an unelected lawmaker for life.
Ms Alexander, whose brother Douglas Alexander is the UK’s trade policy minister, was an MSP from 1999-2011 and led Scottish Labour for a nine month spell between September 2007 and June 2008. She is vice-chairwoman of the British Council and recently stood down as vice-principal of Dundee University.
During her time at Holyrood she served as enterprise minister, instigating a number of policies that aligned the government around the modern tech-driven economy.
Ms Gray’s appointment follows her refusal to take up the newly-created government post of envoy for the nations and regions.
She was offered that after being sackedas the Prime Minister’s chief-of-staff, with former spinner Morgan McSweeney named as her successor.
However, her switch to the Labour cause was seen as a political coup. She wrote the partygate report into lockdown gatherings held on the parliamentary estate.
