[3] For centuries, the House of Lords had included several hundred members who inherited their seats (hereditary peers); the Act removed such a right.

[11] The rising wealth of the Commons eventually allowed it to wage two civil wars, dethrone two kings, and gradually reduce the power of the Lords.

Blair stated that the Conservatives were using the hereditary peers to "frustrate" and "overturn the will of the democratically elected House of Commons".

On 2 December 1998, the Conservative Leader of the Opposition, William Hague, rose in the House of Commons to attack Blair's plans.

Hague further suggested that the Conservative Party would never agree to such constitutional reforms that were "based on no comprehensive plan or principle.

[25] Hague immediately removed Cranborne from office,[26] but, in protest, several Conservative Lords who held front-bench positions resigned.

The Weatherill Amendment put into place the deal agreed to by the Prime Minister and Viscount Cranborne, and allowed 92 hereditary peers to remain members of the House of Lords.

"[30] A second issue was related to the Acts of Union 1707 uniting Scotland and England into the Kingdom of Great Britain.

For example, the Treaty of Union joining Great Britain and Ireland required that the two nations be united "forever".

[38] During the session, Charles Beauclerk, Earl of Burford, son of the Duke of St Albans, launched a protest at the constitutional implications of the bill while standing on the Woolsack, and was ejected from the chamber.

Additionally, life peerages were created for all former living Leaders of the House of Lords who were hereditary peers (Quintin Hogg already held a life peerage since 1970): The following hereditary peers who had been created life peers remained in the House after the Act was passed, they were: Life peerages were also offered to members of the royal family with new hereditary peerages, but were declined, as this would have meant they would continue to hold seats in the reformed House of Lords: Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh; Charles, Prince of Wales; Prince Andrew, Duke of York; and Prince Edward, Earl of Wessex.

[51] Before the granting of Royal Assent, the Lords had adopted a Standing Order making provision for the election of those hereditary peers who would remain members of the House under section 2 of the Act.

Thereafter, until November 2002, if a vacancy occurred, the next-highest placed unsuccessful candidate in the original election would fill the seat.

[57][58] The Labour Government expected eventually to present a bill for a second stage of House of Lords reform based on Lord Steel's earlier bills, which aimed to remove the remaining 92 hereditary peers;[59][60] the history of such attempts between 1997 and 2009 is set out in a report in The Guardian.

In 2009, Labour introduced the Constitutional Reform and Governance Bill, which would have ended the by-elections to fill vacancies for hereditary peers, thereby removing them through attrition.

[62] However, these elements were dropped from the bill entirely, along with other clauses relating to the expulsion and resignation of peers from the House of Lords.

[60] The coalition government of David Cameron (Conservatives) and Nick Clegg (Liberal Democrats), inaugurated in 2010, had plans to reform the House of Lords by making it mostly elected and slashing its size.

[63] Deputy Prime Minister and Liberal Democrat leader Nick Clegg spearheaded the push to bring in the changes.

Peers were each to represent a specific region of the United Kingdom, as constituted for the election of Members of the European Parliament.

[63] The House of Lords Reform Act 2014 allowed peers to retire or resign, to be expelled for serious criminal offences, or to be removed for non-attendance during a whole session.

It was presented by Dan Byles and based on earlier bills which Lord Steel had attempted to pass through parliament.