Hereditary Peers are getting the axe

Sunday Extra - Separate stories podcast · Apr 4, 2026 · 15m

For more than 700 years, the upper house of British parliament, House of Lords, was largely made up of hereditary peers. Seats in the House of Lords were passed down through generations of Lords and Viscounts along with their titles.But that all changed last month, when the last of the hereditary peers were removed from the House of Lords, replaced with Life Peers, nominated by the Prime Minister.Does the change mark the end of political nepotism, or the beginning of the end for the House of Lords?Guest: Ralph Matthew Palmer, 12th Baron Lucas, 8th Lord Dingwall and outgoing hereditary peer