House of Lords Speaker says number of peers needs to be reduced to get rid of 'passengers'

Lord Fowler says it is 'unfair' that some peers do not fulfil responsibilities

The size of the House of Lords is gradually being reduced from around 800 to a maximum of 600 (REUTERS)

The number of peers should be reduced to remove "passengers" who do not contribute to debates, the House of Lords Speaker has said.

Norman Fowler said there were some members of the Lords who were given life peerages without understanding the requirements of the job.

The former Tory cabinet minister is at the centre of efforts to reduce the size of the Lords from around 800 to a maximum of 600.

This involves encouraging some peers to retire and restricting the number of people being granted peerages.

It comes after a surge in the number of life peers under the governments of Tony Blair and David Cameron.

Mr Blair appointed 374 people to the upper House, while Mr Cameron ennobled 260.

Lord Fowler, a cabinet minister under Margaret Thatcher, said a small minority of peers had accepted their appointment without understanding the responsibilities of the role.

He said: “You do have extraordinary cases where people have come in and after a few days they’ve come to the conclusion that, actually they’re in the wrong place doing the wrong thing – or rather not doing the wrong thing - and the last thing we want in the House of Lords is passengers.”

“It’s partly unfair, because there were some good people who came in. What I think is fair to say is that on that, as with other appointments, there was no process in which they came before a commission and it was explained to a prospective new peer what was involved in the job.”

He added: "I do think it is completely crazy that we have a system at the moment where the size of the House of Lords is totally open-ended.

“I know of no assembly in the western world, or any other world for that matter, where there isn’t a limit on the numbers. It isn’t a revolutionary thing to say.”

Lord Fowler, a prominent LGBT rights campaigner, also revealed that one peer had told him they believed AIDS was "self-inflicted".

Commenting on the campaign to improve attitudes towards HIV, he said: “When I have finished with this job, it is one of the things that I intend to return to, for the years that are left, to campaign on that.

“I had the other day a peer who came up to me after a series of question before World Aids Day, and said, ‘You know, in my view it’s just all self-inflicted’. And you think, ‘Really?’”