The cost of the Lords – In the 2010-2015 parliament, £360,000 was claimed by Peers in years they failed to vote once. In the last Parliamentary session alone, over £100,000 was claimed by Peers who did not vote at all. At the same time, Cameron’s plans for an addition 50 Peers will cost at least £1.3m per year.

Independence – In the 2014-15 session nearly half (45%) of all Crossbenchers participated in 10 or fewer votes – compared to an average of just 8% of party political Peers, while a quarter of appointments to the House of Lords between 1997 and 2015 were former MPs.

Professional politicians – Over a third of Lords (34%) previously worked in politics. Just 1% come from manual backgrounds.

A supersized House – to rebalance the upper chamber strictly in line with the 2015 General Election results would require the appointment of an additional 723 members.

Out of date – 44% of Lords list their main addresses in London and the South East, while 54% are 70 or older.”