Liberal Democrats, Regionalism and the House of Lords

It will come as no surprise to anyone that the House of Lords is dominated, at least in terms of membership numbers, by London and the South East - it's been a generally held assumption for years. And now, thanks to a recently issued Library Note, the House of Lords has provided some data to demonstrate it, data which does show some interesting news for Liberal Democrats in the rest of England.

Of the Peers who declare the location of their main residence, 492 reside in England. Based on the 2011 census, a proportional split by English Region would be;

• East of England - 55
• East Midlands - 42
• London - 75
• North East - 24
• North West - 66
• South East - 80
• South West - 49
• West Midlands - 52
• Yorkshire and the Humber - 49

The actual figures are;

• East of England - 63
• East Midlands - 14
• London - 152
• North East - 21
• North West - 24
• South East - 114
• South West - 54
• West Midlands - 23
• Yorkshire and the Humber - 27

which demonstrates that, apart form the North East, which is fairly close to its expected figure, what power resides in the Lords is definitely tilted south of the Trent.

The Liberal Democrat benches should, on the same basis, given that there are sixty of them declaring the location of their main residence, be split as follows;

• East of England - 7
• East Midlands - 5
• London - 9
• North East - 3
• North West - 8
• South East - 10
• South West - 6
• West Midlands - 6
• Yorkshire and the Humber - 6

Again, the actual split is;

• East of England - 6
• East Midlands - 1
• London - 17
• North East - 3
• North West - 4
• South East - 11
• South West - 13
• West Midlands - 0
• Yorkshire and the Humber - 5

So, not bad in the East of England, the North East, the South East and Yorkshire and the Humber, not withstanding that Yorkshire should never knowingly be under-represented. However, if anyone in the Leader's Office is reading this, our only Peer in the East Midlands is a hereditary who doesn't show up much, and doing something about both Midlands regions might not be a bad idea.

Throw in someone from the North West, add at least one BAME person, and ensure gender balance at the very least in future lists, and we might end up with a Parliamentary Party in the Lords which ticks a few more of the diversity boxes.

And if someone would like to bring the East of England up to par, I'd be only too glad to offer my services...