Why should you engage Members of the House of Lords?

Whilst the role of the House of Lords is often a topic of debate within the UK’s political apparatus, it remains a key part of Parliament and its legislative processes. Yet a mistake many organisations make when developing their public affairs strategies is focusing all their energy and resource on MPs at the expense of engaging Peers.

In my experience, this is a mistake. Peers make a huge contribution to bringing about positive change and can be incredibly skilful and passionate advocates for worthy causes. Furthermore, as all legislation passes through both the Commons and Lords, engaging with Lords is vital for successful Bill influencing work such as amendments and Private Members Bills.

Many Peers have been appointed to the Lords as a result of their rich expertise and experience in a particular area, such as law, and can bring incredible knowledge and acumen to campaigning issues. Some are also former MPs who are hugely respected by current MPs and have the ear Ministers and other influential stakeholders.

As such creating and maintaining positive, cross-party, relationships with Peers should be within every public affairs strategy. While leading charity campaigns, I have successfully seen an amendment made to a Government Bill through firstly engaging with a passionate Peer, and led work on a Private Members Bill which was driven hugely by a Peer and who skilfully led its passage through the Lords.

If you want to explore how Peers can factor into your influencing work, you are welcome to get in touch!