The House of Lords will no longer be up there with Lesotho’s Senate among the only legislative bodies in the world with a hereditary element following the passage of the Hereditary Peers Bill yesterday evening.

The final legislative hurdle was cleared after the UK government said it would be willing to grant life peerages to some current opposition and cross-bench hereditary peers.

Labour’s Baroness Smith, leader of the House of Lords, said: “The Lords plays a vital role within our bicameral Parliament, but nobody should sit in the House by virtue of an inherited title.

“That is why the government committed to removing the remaining hereditary peerages, completing the reforms that were started over a quarter of a century ago.

“Getting this bill through is a major first step towards reform of the Lords, with further changes to follow – including on members’ retirement and participation requirements.”

Nick Thomas-Symonds, minister for the Cabinet Office, added: “Hereditary peerages are an archaic and undemocratic principle. I am proud that we have fulfilled a key manifesto pledge of this government.

“Our parliament should always be a place where talents are recognised and merit counts. It should never be a gallery of old boys’ networks, nor a place where titles, many of which were handed out centuries ago, hold power over the will of the people.”

Currently, 92 excepted hereditary peers, which include a range of dukes, viscounts, and earls, can vote on legislation in the Lords.

While over 600 hereditary peers were removed from the Lords in the House of Lords Act 1999, 92 were retained as an interim measure.

The new bill will come into effect at the end of this session of parliament, after which no peer will be a member of the House of Lords on the basis of their hereditary peerage.