Are peers asleep on the job? Investigating the House of Lords – podcast

Investigative journalist David Pegg and data journalist Pamela Duncan have spent the last four months examining the House of Lords. They discuss why the upper house is under such pressure to reform. Plus: Iman Amrani on her modernity masculinity series

In the House of Lords, the UK’s second chamber, members are unelected, gaining their seats either by virtue of a prime ministerial nomination or by having inherited their seat through lineage. Their job is to conduct line-by-line examinations of proposed legislation and they are paid for this work. Yet the amount of work the peers do varies greatly, the Guardian has found. One peer claimed almost £50,000 in attendance and travel expenses for a period in which he never spoke or asked any written questions.

The Guardian’s David Pegg and Pamela Duncan discuss their findings from their four-month investigation into the House of Lords with India Rakusen, including that one in five peers advise private business while serving in parliament.

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from The Guardian http://bit.ly/2WBecWj