Tories dish out more than 360 life peerages to wealthy chums and colleagues.
The SNP has called for an urgent review into ‘Westminster sleaze’ after new analysis revealed the Tory government has handed out a staggering 364 life peerages since 2010.
Shockingly, around 170 of these ‘jobs for life’ in the unelected House of Lords have been given to fellow Tory politicians and advisors.
The House of Lords has now ballooned to accommodate around 800 peers – only communist China has a larger unelected legislative body.
Now, an SNP MP is calling for an urgent review into the “honours-for-chums” crisis that he says “threatens the credibility of our democracy”.
Commenting, SNP House of Lords spokesperson Tommy Sheppard MP (pictured) said:
“These Lords are unelected and unaccountable. It is an affront to our democracy that the Tories have been allowed to stuff the House of Lords with their party chums, election losing has-beens and Whitehall cronies.
“In a year when many working families have faced job losses and financial insecurities, it is sickening that Boris Johnson has chosen to dish out so many of these £300-a-day jobs-for- life to the likes of Ruth Davidson, and even his own brother, Jo Johnson.
“There’s growing anger amongst voters and allowing this kind of Westminster sleaze to continue any longer threatens the credibility of our democracy.
“It’s time to pull the brakes on this gravy train and urgently review this honours-for-chums scandal.
“The sooner this undemocratic, out-of-touch institution is abolished – and replaced with an elected chamber – the better.”
