A former Tory chancellor has warned that the House of Lords is becoming so overcrowded that it runs the risk of imploding.
The dissolution honours list created 45 peers, bringing the total to well over 800 members. The Lords is now the world’s second largest parliamentary upper chamber behind the Chinese National People’s Congress.
Lord Lamont of Lerwick, the chancellor between 1990 and 1993, said: “It has been a great mistake to accept the idea that whoever wins the general election is entitled to create a large number of peers to reflect that result.
“That is a recipe for an ever-expanding House . . . It is overcrowded. There should be a cap on numbers: one in, three out . . . this [announcement of new peers] runs the risk of making the place look so ridiculous it implodes.”
Tales emerged of atheists attending prayers in the House in order to get a seat, offices spilling out into nearby streets and a lack of chairs in the library.
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Baroness Flather, a crossbencher, told BBC Radio 4: “If I want to take part in a question before the business starts then I really have to attend for prayers, otherwise I don’t get a seat. As I’m an atheist I don’t feel comfortable attending prayers. We do budge up for each other. Even then we can’t get in.”
One senior Tory peer hit out at Mr Cameron’s “absurd” appointments, before adding: “It’s quite difficult to even get a seat in the library.”
To cope with swelling numbers inside the Palace over the past two decades, peers’ offices in the House of Lords have been spilling out into nearby streets in Westminster. The latest acquisition of office space — a grand red-brick Georgian House on Great College Street — will set the House back £1.2 million each year.
The House of Lords has been adding to its lavish property portfolio since 1994 when it acquired an elegant Georgian house in Old Palace Yard. Since then, £13 million was set aside for Fielden House in 2002, and three years later £76 million was spent on the Millbank Island Site — comprising Millbank House, 1 Millbank and 5 Great College Street.
For the past decade the property on Great College Street has been let to a third party, but last month the decision was made to allow the premises to be used by peers for the first time.
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A spokesman for the House of Lords, confirming the acquisition, said: “The parliamentary estate is made up of a number of buildings . . . [they are] required to accommodate the House of Lords’ members and staff while essential repair and refurbishment works are carried out to other parts of the parliamentary estate over the next five to 15 years.”