SNP MP: Christmas will never really end for the House of Lords

Permitting retired Lords to entertain business contacts in Westminster's taxpayer-subsidised bars and restaurants will mean "the festive season never ends of peers", the SNP has claimed.

Proposed reforms designed as an incentive to encourage peers to retire would permit them to continue to use the the numerous restaurants and bars at Westminster.

The SNP - whose long-standing position is not to take peerages - fears allowing retired peers to continue to entertain clients and business contacts at Westminster will "open Parliament up to further potential of sleaze with a total lack of accountability".

At a time when many people across Scotland are struggling to make ends meet, proposals to allow retired peers to continue to use lavish Lords facilities at taxpayers' expense take the biscuit. It seems the festive season never ends for peers.

• SNP MP Angus McNeil

Scottish Labour said: "The next Labour government will abolish the House of Lords and replace it with an elected senate of the nations and regions.

"This would reverse a century of centralisation with a democratic voice."

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