There’s been some discussion in regards to how being a Crossbencher in the House of Lords actually works. There is little in the constitution and in the Standing Orders and therefore I have decided - with consultation - that it shall be clarified within the Standing Orders with slight reforms to the current ad hoc rules.

With consideration that:

- devolved parties being detached has created a precedent of allowing cross-party affiliation

- the House of Lords is sufficiently unique and detached from parties

- party affiliation in MHoC is generally a social thing first, most people engage with their parties first then canon

I have decided to formally state that a person can have a party affiliation and be a Crossbench Peer at the same time, and shall be amending the Standing Orders accordingly.

We have also decided to allow custom labels to be used by Crossbenchers, at the discretion of the Lords Speakership. For example, a Crossbencher can decide to use the label of “Independent Socialist”, “Unionist”, etc. These cannot be too similar to current parties, and does not count as being part of a separate party for polling. This will be tracked by myself in capacity as Lord Speaker and communicated with the Commons Speaker so nothing is missed.

For clarity, the label can be used in circumstances such as:

- user flair on MHoL.

- press posts

- in debates themselves

Any questions please feel free to ask here, in #qs-for-lords-speaker, or my Discord El Raymondo#0525.

Thanks,

Ray