Suspend scandal peers immediately, says Labour's Lord Soley

The House of Lords should have the ability to immediately suspend members who are accused of wrongdoing, a senior Labour peer has said.

Lord Soley, a former chairman of the Parliamentary Labour Party, said delays in taking action "magnified" damage done to the reputation of the House.

His comments, in a letter to Lord Speaker Baroness D'Souza, come after Lord Sewel resigned from the Lords.

He quit after being filmed allegedly taking drugs with prostitutes.

Lord Soley wrote: "It is my belief that the damage done to the reputation of the House is magnified by any delay in taking action. Delay ensures the story will run continuously in the media.

"I know you acted quickly in making a statement about Lord Sewel but I think we need to establish a method for imposing a quick suspension of a member. This is important for the member as well as the House.

"The damage done to the reputation of the Lords could have been less if we had been able to suspend Lord Sewel as soon as the story broke. That change can and should be made. It is what any other organisation would have done."

The Labour peer added: "We should also bring in a more general rule of 'bringing the House into disrepute'. This has been considered and rejected in the past.

"I think we should now review that decision."

After the allegations against Lord Sewel surfaced in the Sun on Sunday last week, Baroness D'Souza requested a standards investigation and also referred him to the police.

The Metropolitan Police has said it is looking into "allegations of drug-related offences involving a member of the House of Lords", after searching a property in central London.

The former Labour peer had originally requested a leave of absence from the Lords, with sources suggesting at the time he did not plan to quit.

But in a letter to the Clerk of Parliaments published on Tuesday, he said he could "best serve the House by leaving it".

Although Lord Sewel has resigned from the House of Lords he keeps the peerage he was given by the then Labour leader Tony Blair in 1996.