By-elections to the House of Lords

List of by-elections

Whole House

2000s

;After the death of the Viscount of Oxfuird |- |! style="background:white;"| | Others

2010s

After the death of the Lord Strabolgi:

2020s

After the retirement of the Countess of Mar: |access-date=17 June 2021

After the death of the Viscount Simon: |- |! style="background:white;"| | Others

After the retirement of the Viscount Falkland:

After the death of the Lord Brougham and Vaux:

Crossbench

2000s

After the death of Baroness Strange:{{STV Election box begin3 |access-date=15 January 2011 After the death of the Baroness Darcy de Knayth: |access-date=11 January 2011 After the death of the Viscount Bledisloe: |access-date=10 January 2011

2010s

After the death of the Viscount Colville of Culross: |access-date=10 January 2011 After the death of the Lord Monson: |access-date=11 May 2011 After the death of the Lord Moran: |access-date=9 April 2014 After the death of the Viscount Allenby of Megiddo: |access-date=10 December 2014 After the retirement of the Lord Cobbold: After the retirement of the Lord Chorley: |access-date=3 February 2015 After the retirement of the Lady Saltoun of Abernethy: After the retirement of the Viscount Tenby: |access-date=7 July 2015 After the retirement of the Viscount Montgomery of Alamein:{{STV Election box begin3 |access-date=20 October 2015 After the removal for non-attendance of the Lord Bridges: |access-date=12 July 2016 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160822185843/http://www.parliament.uk/documents/lords-information-office/2016/Hereditary-peers-by-election-result-(Bridges).pdf |archive-date=22 August 2016 After the retirement of the Lord Walpole: |access-date=19 July 2017

• Viscount Hill originally announced his candidacy but later withdrew. After the retirement of the Earl Baldwin of Bewdley:

|access-date=4 July 2018

• David Armstrong-Jones, 2nd Earl of Snowdon originally announced his candidacy but later withdrew. After the retirement of the Lord Northbourne:{{STV Election box begin3 |access-date=28 November 2018 After the death of the Viscount Slim: |access-date=27 March 2019

2020s

After the retirement of the Earl of Listowel:{{STV Election box begin3 After the death of the Lord Palmer and the retirement of the Lord Hylton:{{STV Election box begin3

Conservative

2000s

After the death of Lord Vivian: |access-date=15 January 2011 After the death of Lord Burnham: |access-date=15 January 2011 After the death of Lord Mowbray and Stourton: |access-date=11 January 2011

2010s

After the death of the Earl of Northesk: |access-date=10 January 2011 After the death of the Earl of Onslow: |access-date=20 July 2011 After the death of Earl Ferrers: |access-date=6 February 2013 After the retirement of the Lord Luke:{{STV Election box begin3 |access-date=16 September 2015 After the death of the Lord Montagu of Beaulieu: |access-date=24 November 2015 After the retirement of the Lord Glentoran: |access-date=18 July 2018

2020s

Normally, by-elections must be held within three months of a vacancy occurring, but in response to the COVID-19 pandemic the House resolved in March 2020 to suspend any by-elections. Although this initial suspension was only until 8 September 2020, successive further motions extended this arrangement. Ultimately by-elections resumed in June 2021 with multiple elections held to fill six vacancies.

After the retirements of the Earl of Selborne and the Lord Denham, and the removal for non-attendance of the Lord Selsdon: |access-date=17 June 2021 After the retirement of the Viscount Ridley:

After the retirement of the Lord Rotherwick:

After the retirement of the Lord Brabazon of Tara, and the death of the Lord Swinfen: |access-date=6 July 2021 After the retirement of the Lord Astor of Hever, and the death of the Earl of Home:

• The Earl of Minto and Lord Roborough initially announced their candidacies, but subsequently were elected at a by-election earlier the same week.

Liberal Democrats

After the death of the Earl Russell: |access-date=15 January 2011 After the death of the Lord Avebury: |access-date=20 April 2016

Labour

;After the death of Lord Milner of Leeds |access-date=16 January 2011 |archive-date=21 January 2013 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130121193747/http://www.election.demon.co.uk/lords.html |url-status=dead After the death of the Lord Rea:{{STV Election box begin3 |access-date=12 July 2021

Upcoming by-elections

Currently, there are five vacancies among the elected hereditary peers:

• The Earl of Sandwich (Crossbench), retired 20 May 2024.
• The Lord Willoughby de Broke (non-affiliated, elected as Conservative), membership removed due to non-attendance 9 July 2024.
• The Viscount Craigavon (Crossbench), died 31 March 2025.
• The Viscount Waverley (Crossbench), retired 23 June 2025.
• The Lord Aberdare (Crossbench), retired 31 August 2025.
• The Earl Attlee
• The Earl of Lytton

Ordinarily, by-elections to fill vancancies would have been required within three months. However, on 25 July 2024, in anticipation of imminent legislative debates on the abolition of the right of hereditary peers to sit in the Lords (see below), and reflecting views that "ongoing by-elections during the parliamentary consideration of a Bill would be deeply undesirable in this context", the House of Lords passed a motion to extend the deadline for holding a by-election to 18 months. On 22 October 2025, the House passed a motion to further extend the deadline to 36 months for the remainder of the 2024–2026 parliamentary session.

In September 2024 the newly-elected Labour government introduced the House of Lords (Hereditary Peers) Bill. If enacted this would remove the right of the remaining hereditary peers to sit and vote in the House of Lords.

Scottish and Irish by-elections

From the 1707 Act of Union to the passing of the Peerage Act 1963, peers in the Peerage of Scotland elected sixteen representative peers to sit in the House of Lords. Unlike Irish peers, however, Scottish representative peers only sat for the duration of one parliament before facing re-election. By-elections were held in the Palace of Holyroodhouse to replace deceased peers. After the passing of the Peerage Act 1963, all Scottish peers were entitled to sit in the House of Lords and the election procedure was abolished.

The last Scottish representative peer by-election took place in 1959, when the Duke of Atholl was elected in place of the late Lord Sinclair.

Also, from the 1801 Act of Union to Irish independence, 28 Irish representative peers were elected from and by the Peerage of Ireland to sit in the British House of Lords. Like current hereditary peers, these representative peers sat for life terms and deceased peers were replaced in by-elections. Unlike modern hereditary peer by-elections, all peers in the Peerage of Ireland, even those who did not sit in the House of Lords, were entitled to vote. Upon the creation of the Irish Free State, the offices required to officiate these by-elections were abolished and thus no more were held, but those peers already elected kept their seats for the remainder of their lives. The last to sit in the Lords was Francis Needham, 4th Earl of Kilmorey, who died in 1961.

References

References

1. (1999-07-26). "Hansard, Vol 604 No 126 Cols 1290-1292".
2. "By-Elections in the House of Lords".
3. "Hansard for 22 October 2025: Business of the House". [[House of Lords]].
4. Pownall, Michael. (6 November 2010). "Conservative Hereditary Peers' By-election".
5. "By-election in the House of Lords - News from Parliament - UK Parliament".
6. (25 May 2010). "Register of Hereditary Peers who wish to stand for election as members of the House of Lords under Standing Order 10 (Hereditary peers: by-elections) as at 25 May 2010".
7. Including a single vote in June 2021 which filled three vacant seats, and two votes in July 2022 and October 2022 which filled two vacant seats each.
8. Including a single vote in September 2023 which filled two vacant seats.
9. "United Kingdom Election Results - House of Lords Act: Hereditary Peers By-Election, March 2003".
10. "Hereditary peers' by-election, October 2022: result".
11. "Hereditary peers' by-election, November 2023: result".
12. Elgot, Jessica. (4 July 2018). "Earl of Devon elected to the Lords in a poll of his hereditary peers". The Guardian.
13. "Business of the House Motions". UK Parliament.
14. (7 September 2020). "House of Lords Business – General motion". [[Parliament of the United Kingdom.
15. (14 December 2020). "House of Lords Business – General motion". [[Parliament of the United Kingdom.
16. (22 February 2021). "House of Lords Business – General motion". [[Parliament of the United Kingdom.
17. (26 April 2021). "Resumption of hereditary peers' by-elections". [[House of Lords]].
18. "Conservative hereditary peers' by-election, March 2022: result".
19. (30 October 2003). "Three elect peer in Lords byelection". [[The Guardian]].
20. (October 2003). "Results of Labour hereditary peers by-election".
21. "The Earl of Sandwich". [[Parliament of the United Kingdom.
22. "Lord Willoughby de Broke".
23. "Viscount Craigavon".
24. "Viscount Waverley".
25. "Viscount Aberdare".
26. "Minutes of Proceedings for 25 July 2024: Business of the House". [[House of Lords]].
27. "Minutes of Proceedings for 22 October 2025: Business of the House". [[House of Lords]].
28. (17 July 2024). "The King's Speech 2024". [[Prime Minister's Office (United Kingdom).
29. "About". Queen's University Belfast.