LOCAL Government Minister Alison McGovern has defended the appointment of new Labour peers, saying that Labour should be able to get its manifesto commitments through the House of Lords.

She told GB News: “What’s different is about the way that we have approached changing the House of Lords. So we have been trying to remove the hereditary peers. I think most people would find it really shocking that in 2025 we still have people who’ve inherited their right to legislate.

“We’re changing that. We’re also bringing forward proposals that will limit the length of time people can spend in the House of Lords, making sure that they retire at least 80 so we are changing the House of Lords, and we’ll go further.

“The issue is, after 14 years of Conservative government, and the number of people that they put in the House of Lords. It is in no way balanced in the way that it ought to be constitutionally. We were elected on a manifesto. We should be able to get our manifesto commitments through the House of Lords.

“We’re appointing new peers from various walks of life, along with other parties. That is, at the moment, the only way that people can be put into the House of Lords. And that is how we’re responding to the situation that we face.”

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Asked why the government was trying to pass laws on assisted dying and abortion that were not in Labour’s manifesto, McGovern said: “You’ve mentioned two issues there that are issues of conscience that are dealt with by Parliament on a non-partisan basis, because we have a long standing convention that those are issues of conscience.

“On assisted dying, that is a private member’s piece of legislation. On abortion, I think it is wrong. I don’t recognise your characterisation of the policy. I think it is wrong that women ought to be criminalised for their healthcare needs.

“I think the most important thing is that we rebuild our health service so that it’s able to take care of people in this country, which is what we have been doing with five million more appointments.”

On the Birmingham bin strikes, she said: “The government is already intervening in Birmingham. The previous government and ministers appointed commissioners before I was the Minister for Local Government, that means the government is directly intervening.

“The people of Birmingham deserve far better. We want to see everybody coming together to try to resolve this, and we’ll take steps to help that, because the most important thing is that people in Birmingham have a good quality service from their council. That’s what the commissioners are there to assure. And I’ll be watching over that process to make sure that that happens.”

She added: “It’s terrible. It shouldn’t be going on in this way, and I want to see this being brought to an end, as I said just now, the government has already intervened. We already have commissioners, and we need to progress this issue with the level of urgency, because the people of Birmingham deserve better.

“Everybody should be able to rely on basic services that their council can provide. Unfortunately, beyond Birmingham, which has some specific issues, that’s much less likely to be the case now because of 14 years of Tory town hall austerity.”