‘Stuffed with Lefties!’ Jacob Rees-Mogg rages at House of Lords thwarting Boris’s plans

Jacob Rees-Mogg is confronted by campaigner at Tory conference

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The upper chamber of Parliament has been accused of deliberately thwarting the Government’s attempts to pass laws. Unelected peers were blamed for attempting to block Brexit between 2016 and 2019 after amending laws repeatedly.

Addressing the Conservative party conference in Manchester, Mr Rees-Mogg spoke of frustrations in having to deal with the Lords.

He said: “The legislative process is quite a long and complex one.

“So, you have a brilliant idea in a manifesto, you have page after page of ideas.

“Then you have to turn them into detailed policies, and then you have to turn them into text.

“And then you have to get them through the House of Commons and once you’ve done that you’ve got to get them through the House of Lords which is stuffed to the guns with Lefties so that’s quite difficult.”

He said the key to getting legislation through the Lords was to “know what their concerns will be”.

The North East Somerset MP added it was then possible to “try and create something [as a Bill] that you can then get through” Parliament.

As Leader of the House of Commons, Mr Rees-Mogg plays a crucial role in turning Bills into new laws.

The House of Lords is the second largest legislative chamber in the world, beaten only by the Chinese National People’s Congress.

Boris Johnson has said he wants to reduce the size of the chamber.

It currently has over 800 members, meaning there are more unelected politicians in the UK Parliament than there are MPs.

However, in a bid to make it easier to pass Conservative legislation and overcome Left-wing opposition, the Prime Minister has stuffed the red benches of the Upper House with allies.

He has appointed 79 peers since coming to office, nearly double the number given a seat by Theresa May.

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In a bid to reduce what he sees as a Remainer bias in the chamber, Mr Johnson has made a number of high-profile Brexiteer appointments.

Former Labour Leaver MPs Kate Hoey and Gisela Stuart have both been given a place in the Lords, along with ex-Tory MEP Dan Hannan and even England cricket legend Ian Botham.

Campaigners want to see the chamber vastly cut down in size or removed completely to make it more democratic.

Willie Sullivan, Senior Director at the Electoral Reform Society said: “PMs can appoint unlimited numbers of their friends and cronies, skewing our politics and fuelling distrust.

“We need a leaner, proportionally-elected revising chamber that can’t genuinely stand up for the nations and regions of the UK.

“While some peers work very hard, the lack of accountability means others can turn up and claim expenses without scrutiny.

“It’s time to move on from an oversized private member’s club, to give voters the revising chamber we need.”

He added: “The average size of a second chamber around the world is about 100 members – far slimmer than the bloated House of Lords.

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