Reform UK will not abolish the House of Lords, one of the party’s MPs has said, calling the idea “constitutional vandalism”.
Andrew Rosindell, who defected from the Conservative Party to Reform in January 2026, was the party’s lone voice in a Westminster Hall debate on House of Lords reform on Tuesday.
The MP for Romford argued that the Lords provided “a balance to an elected chamber” and that Britain needed “a house of experts – or elders, if you like” made up of people “with knowledge, expertise and experience who have served this country over many decades in different walks of life.”
Rosindell, who has been an MP since 2001, stated that “continuity is the foundation of the success of this nation. To ignore what has gone on in the past and to lose all that continuous wisdom from the ages is pure vandalism.”
Rosindell went on to criticise Labour, the Conservatives and the Liberal Democrats for putting “friends of the leader” and former special advisers into the chamber. He also highlighted Reform’s lack of representation in the House of Lords. “There are 80 Lib Dem peers, yet their party received 600,000 fewer votes than Reform UK”, he said.
During his speech, Rosindell was challenged by Labour MP Simon Opher, who pointed to Reform’s previous commitment to abolish the House of Lords.
Opher said: “I thought that, in Reform’s manifesto, it was going to abolish the House of Lords and replace it with a much smaller, more democratic second chamber.”
Rosindell replied: “Well, I did not stand on that manifesto. I joined Reform UK after that manifesto. I can tell [Opher] now that that is not our policy today. We are not going to abolish the House of Lords. We are not going to engage in constitutional vandalism.”
In the party’s 2024 general election manifesto, Reform committed to replacing “the crony-filled House of Lords with a much smaller, more democratic second chamber.”
The document added: “Structure to be debated. Immediate end of political appointees.”
In September 2025, Nigel Farage said he was still in favour of reforming the House of Lords as it had “become a bit of an abomination”.
Farage told the House magazine: “Constitutional reform is, without doubt, needed but can it be at the top of the agenda for a Reform government given all the other problems the country is facing? No. Is it important? Yes.”
In his September 2026 conference speech, Farage once again threatened to overhaul the House of Lords.
The Reform leader said he expected the House of Lords to “honour” Reform’s policies, warning that if it refused, he would appoint hundreds of new peers to secure a majority for the party in the upper chamber.
He added: “And if that proves difficult, we will hold a referendum on the current composition of the House of Lords, and they would be swept away by a British public appalled by them.”
Campaigning for the Brexit Party in 2019, Farage said his party would be renamed “Reform” after the UK left the European Union, and that it would campaign for changes to the voting system and the abolition of the House of Lords.
When the rebrand was confirmed in 2021, Farage stated: “We have a huge opportunity as a nation post-Brexit, but there are many areas of the UK that need real, bold reform: our economy, House of Lords, BBC, civil service, the voting system to mention a few.”
Speaking on Tuesday, Rosindell also said that, if the upper house were eventually abolished, “frankly it would be better just to have one chamber than to have a second elected chamber, because there would be rivalry between the two”.
Shadow Cabinet Office minister Mike Wood, speaking on behalf of the Conservative frontbench, said Reform’s position “seems a little confused”.
Wood stated: “I note that last month [Rosindell’s] party leader was talking about flooding the House of Lords with hundreds of new Reform peers, and he said that if that did not work to get Reform’s legislative agenda through, he would have a referendum on abolishing the House of Lords.”
Parliamentary secretary in the Cabinet Office Mark Ferguson said that it was “enjoyable and entertaining in a different way” to hear from Rosindell.
Ferguson added: “I was surprised to hear him say that he wants continuity, given that there has not even been continuity in the party he has represented within this parliament.
“I think this country needs to change and I believe that, in his own way, he believes the country needs to change, too – otherwise his recent change of party is somewhat surprising.
“I enjoyed hearing him dabble in unicameralism; I was not necessarily expecting that point, which was often championed in this place by the former Labour member Mike Gapes, a proud unicameralist.
“There are not many of them in the House, so it was interesting to hear [Rosindell] make that point.”
