Life Peerages Act
"Radically changing the membership of the House of Lords by introducing Peers appointed for their lifetime and allowing women to join the House of Lords for the first time the Life Peerages Act 1958 helped to transform the House."
The rest of the clip is made up of members of the House of Lords talking to camera, shots of the Lords Chamber meeting and members of the public being asked what they know about the House of Lords.
Transcript begins:
Baroness D'Souza: The Life Peerages Act, which we are going to be celebrating fifty years of this year - so, 1958 - was a very remarkable act, actually, in the way it came about.
Baroness Young of Old Scone: The hereditary nature - the fact that you got there 'cause your dad was a peer - of the Lords prior to the Act was very distinctive; people were there with a genuine sense of public service and often had been for generations. But it did mean that it was quite a particular slice of society that was in the Lords.
Lord Speaker: It led from very small beginnings - under twenty original life peers made in 1958 - to the House that we have today, which is almost exclusively life peers.
Baroness Williams of Crosby: A once-upon-a-time hereditary-bound House has become part of the vanguard in integrating very different types of people - whether it's linguistic, occupational - into British life.
Member of the public: I know that it used to be hereditary, didn't it?
Member of the public: I'm not entirely sure, but I know it's not as easy as it used to be to become a lord.
Member of the public: Passed on from generation.
Member of the public: People who have been made lifetime lords through the government.
Member of the public: Maybe lots of high-profile charity work.
Member of the public: I believe that either you inherit a title, or you are recommended.
Member of the public: Through family right?
Member of the public: Absolutely no idea!
Lord Dholakia: People from all walks of life now find themselves being appointed to the House of Lords, either through the Party machine, or through the Independent Appointments Commission.
Baroness Young of Hornsey: Women could be admitted for the first time, which you may think is quite extraordinary, given that this is only 1958.
Member of the public: Yes, I do think there are women in the House of Lords. I don't think they outnumber the men.
Member of the public: Yes there are. There are women members of the Lords.
Member of the public: I'm not sure if there are women allowed in the House of Lords.
Member of the public: Yes, I know there are women in the House of Lords.
Member of the public: Yes. Not very many, but I think there are.
Lord Tyler: I think women, too, have made a very special contribution to the House of Lords on what you might call the personal, private, moral issues.
Baroness Young of Hornsey: The number of women in the House of Lords is still quite low; it's something under twenty per cent, but we do make a huge impact in the House.
Baroness Scotland of Asthal: Valerie Amos has been a Leader, Margaret Jay has been a Leader of the House, and the current Leader of the House, Cathy Ashton, is a woman too. So fantastic life peers, who are making outstanding contributions. And the Speaker, the very first Speaker of the House of Lords - Lady Hayman.
Member of the public: The average lord, probably, is in his 50s, well educated.
Member of the public: Upper-class character from a very sort of 'public school' background.
Member of the public: Quite wealthy.
Member of the public: I don't think there is such a thing as the 'average lord', because most of the people who go to the House of Lords are just quite the opposite: they're not average. They're people who have distinguished themselves in some particular way.
Member of the public: I think it's changed a lot. I know the House of Lords is a lot more representational.
Baroness Young of Hornsey: One of the outcomes of the Life Peerages Act is that attendance is very, very good because people are there for a purpose.
Lord Puttnam: Why did you have a marked increase in attendance? Simply because the people that you had allowed in had a much, much broader range of interests. And probably, in some cases, a broader range of expertise to offer, than had been the case in the previous couple of hundred years.
Lord Desai: Life Peerages people brought, first of all, awareness of women's rights, rights of disabled people, rights of elderly, questions of children, questions of lifestyle and homosexuality: very staunchly for civil liberties.
Baroness D'Souza: All of the changes that we've seen in the last 50 years have stemmed from that single act of allowing commoners to become part of this second chamber, which started off House of Lords reform, which is continuing to this date.
Lord Speaker: In many ways the House of Lords has never been more active than it is today.
Transcript ends.