‘It would be irresponsible for the Prime Minister post-May 2015 to continue with the current unregulated system’.

Since 2010 increasingly urgent concerns have been raised about the size of the House of Lords; the chamber has grown by a third since 1999.

The Prime Minister retains complete control over the number of peers appointed, the timing of appointments, and how these are shared out between the parties (and independent Crossbenchers).