Britain's House of Lords will soon lose its hereditary peers after Parliament voted to remove dozens of dukes, earls, and viscounts who inherited seats. The legislation passed Tuesday night eliminates what government minister Nick Thomas-Symonds called "an archaic and undemocratic principle." The change ends a 700-year tradition where noble titles granted automatic parliamentary membership.

The 800-member chamber, the world's second-largest legislative body after China's National People's Congress, has long faced criticism for its unwieldy size and lack of democratic legitimacy. While hereditary peers made up only about 10% of current members, their presence symbolized an outdated system. The reform follows the 1999 expulsion of most hereditary peers under Tony Blair's Labour government, which left 92 temporarily to avoid aristocratic rebellion.

Prime Minister Keir Starmer's government now completes this process, though a compromise allows some hereditary members to be "recycled" into life peers. The bill becomes law after King Charles III's royal assent, with hereditary peers leaving by spring's end. While Conservative leader Nicholas True acknowledged the historical significance of seven centuries of service, Labour remains committed to eventually replacing the Lords with a more representative second chamber. Change in British politics, as this quarter-century reform demonstrates, comes slowly but inevitably.