Two north peers have claimed thousands of pounds in expenses over the last year – despite not even speaking in the House of Lords once.
Aberdeen’s former lord provost, Lord Kirkhill, has been revealed as the highest-claiming peer of 17 who failed to speak even once in the last year.
Lord Kirkhill claimed £43,896 in expenses – about £16,000 more than the average UK salary – and last spoke in 2013, according to both Hansard and TheyWorkForYou.
And Viscount Thurso, former MP for Caithness, Sutherland and Easter Ross, is also in the top five lords who have claimed tens of thousands in expenses despite not making any speeches in the 2016/17 parliamentary session.
Viscount Thurso claimed £32,235 in expenses, by voting approximately once a week.
Both peers were condemned as “couch potato peers” by Electoral Reform Society Scotland director Willie Sullivan.
He said: “That some Scottish peers seem to be totally shirking does a great disservice to our democracy with some Lords raking in substantial expenses and allowances for little work.
“This is rapidly becoming a two-tier House – one with a noisy minority on the one hand, and a large number of couch-potato peers on the other. That’s no way to ensure an effective second chamber.
“Scots deserve fair representation in a proper revising chamber, where all members work hard to improve legislation. It’s time for the fully-elected upper house that voters deserve.”
Aberdeen Central MSP Kevin Stewart said the “shameful” behaviour was proof the House of Lords was “rotten to the core” and should be abolished.
He said: “It’s astonishing that Baron Kirkhill has been able to claim over £43,000 in a year in which he sat on no committees, didn’t speak and didn’t ask a single question.
“It’s shameful for this city that a former lord provost, who uses the name of part of Aberdeen in his title, would conduct himself in such a manner.
“At a time when people across this city are being punished by the UK government’s crippling austerity agenda, it’s galling that Baron Kirkhill is implemented in the cash-for-nothing scandal.”
Neither Lord Kirkhill nor Viscount Thurso would comment on their record and the Liberal Democrats also declined to comment.
A Labour Lords spokesman said: “Labour peers do a great job at holding the Tory government to account, and all of them are regularly reminded of their wider responsibilities to the Labour party and the House.”
Meanwhile, the House of Lords has been forced to apologise for providing incorrect data to Hansard about Viscount Colville of Culross’s spoken contributions.
It was reported to the Electoral Reform Society that he had not spoken, but he actually make 18 contributions in the last session.