Four of the UK’s most venerated scientific institutions have waded in to the debate on House of Lords reform, calling for the newly-constituted chamber to include members appointed for their skills and expertise in medicine, engineering and other sciences.

On the day that Commons MPs begin a two-day debate on the House of Lords reform plans, the chief executives of the British Academy, the Royal Society, the Royal Academy of Engineering and the Academy of Medical Sciences have all penned an open letter declaring the “great public interest” in designing a new Lords that includes expertise capable of holding the government of the day to account.

They wrote: “We believe that the UK’s democracy would be best served if a due proportion of places in such a house were reserved for members appointed, by a suitable non-partisan means, on the basis of skills and expertise in science, engineering, medicine and learning more generally.

“Democracy is not only about election but also strong institutions, and robust checks and balances.  The current House of Lords has benefited from the wisdom and interventions of philosopher Onora O’Neill, scientist Martin Rees, engineer Alec Broers and medical scientist John Walton, among others.

“The country and our democracy would stand to lose if the second chamber was deprived of expertise of this calibre.”

The signatories to the letter are Dr Robin Jackson, Dr Julie Maxton, Philip Greenish and Lesley Sims.

Tories set to derail reform plans

The Liberal Democrats are currently leading a campaign to replace the existing House of Lords with a mostly-elected House, and propose to publish a Bill later this year.  But up to 100 backbench Tories are threatening to derail the plans, claiming they have been poorly thought-through and will only increase conflict between the two Houses.

The Bill proposes elections based on proportional representation to select candidates from party lists for 15-year terms. 

Baroness Betty Boothroyd, former Labour Speaker of the House, told the Today Programme this morning that Tories should defy the whip and vote against the Bill, describing it as an “outrage and an abuse of Parliament”.

Conservative backbench MP Penny Mordaunt has described the Bill as a “dog’s breakfast”.