Labour delays plans to abolish House of Lords

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Labour is delaying plans to abolish the House of Lords as Britain’s main opposition party hones its policy platform ahead of the general election expected this year.

Sir Keir Starmer’s party has axed proposals to scrap the upper house in a first five-year parliament and would instead implement only limited reforms to the Lords in order to focus on economic priorities, according to officials.

The changes are likely to include cutting the number of hereditary peers, reducing the total size of the chamber — which numbers about 800 — and introducing a new appointments process, the officials said.

The move by Labour reverses a pledge included in a draft manifesto drawn up last year. It comes as the party’s policies are subjected to greater scrutiny as it maintains a 20-point opinion poll lead over the ruling Conservatives.

Shadow ministers have been instructed to finesse their manifesto policies by Thursday so that Labour is battle-ready for an early election, although Prime Minister Rishi Sunak is widely expected not to go to the country before the autumn.

The party is expected to drop the explicit £28bn-a-year target for its “green prosperity plan” under which a Labour government would borrow to invest in low-carbon schemes.

Colleagues believe Starmer will use the Budget on March 6 — where tax cuts by chancellor Jeremy Hunt could leave the public finances in a tighter state — as an excuse to ditch the target, which has been repeatedly watered down in recent months.

Darren Jones, shadow chief secretary to the Treasury, said on Friday that the amount of money a Labour government spent on environmental programmes would depend on the state of the economy at that time. “The number will move around just as a matter of fact,” he said.

Senior party figures are also debating whether to soften a pledge to raise the tax paid by private…