POLL: 76 Per Cent Say ‘Crony’ Lords ‘Out of Touch with People’

A massive 76 per cent of voters say peers in the House of Lords are “out of tune with the will of the British people” after they voted down the government on Brexit 15 times, a poll has found.

The significant loss of confidence in the upper house means that just 17 per cent of people now say it should be left unreformed, and almost 80 per cent think peers are failed politicians and cronies.

The ComRes poll, conducted for the campaign group We, The People, also found that 58 per cent believe the House of Lords is “wrong” in their attempts to try and thwart Brexit and 79 per cent say the House is an “outdated throwback”.

A petition calling for a referendum on abolishing the House has now hit more than 166,000 signatures, describing Lords as “unelected and unaccountable individuals [who] hold a disproportionate amount of influence and power which can be used to frustrate the elected representatives of the people”.

The most popular alternative, according to the poll, is for a fully elected upper house, which was backed by 37 per cent of people, whilst another 24 per cent want it abolished altogether.

Responding to the poll, leading pro-Brexit MP Jacob Rees-Mogg told the Daily Mail: “These findings show the British electorate understand the constitutional conventions better than some in Parliament, and know they have been broken by the House of Lords.

“The Lords thought they could frustrate Brexit in the twilight, but they have been busted by the electorate, who can see exactly what they are up to. They have weakened the Lords – the Lords are quite vulnerable now.

“There has been tolerance of the Lords because it was there and because it worked. But it is there under sufferance and there is no large advocacy body campaigning for it.

“If it breaks conventions and ceases to work, as it has done recently, then it becomes very difficult to defend and makes it easier for the House of Commons to reform.”

Peers have proposed a massive 388 amendments to the Brexit withdrawal bill, many of which could frustrate or reverse Brexit.

Those most prolific in tabling the anti-Brexit amendments are Labour peers Lord Judd and Lord Adonis, along with Liberal Democrat Lord Wallace of Tankerness.