Agenda: Scottish Labour should take lead from founding father Keir Hardie on abolishing House of Lords.

Today marks 100 years since the death of one of the great founders of the Labour Party, Keir Hardie. The first time he stood for parliament in 1887, he favoured a redistribution of income. But his equality went beyond money and his manifesto also called for the abolition of the House of Lords. He retained this objective for the rest of his life.

He argued that the Lords were undemocratic in being a powerful body appointed by a small minority of politicians and unequal in its virtual exclusion of working class people. The Labour Party has always said it wants to abolish the Lords but never acted upon it. It seems that Scottish Labour is of the same mind.

The case against the Lords at present is similar to the arguments of Keir Hardie. Its members are not elected but appointed by a small elite. In fact, they are very similar to the House of |Commons politicians. More than one third have worked in politics with many having been MPs. As Darren Hughes of the Electoral Reform Society explains: “Just one peer comes from a manual working class background. More have worked for the royal family than done proper physical labour.”

Clearly, the House of Lords upholds British class and political inequalities. It also stimulates financial inequalities. Last year, I was travelling to London with a Labour friend. At Glasgow Central station, he spotted a well-known former Labour MP, by then a Lord. We entered his first- class carriage for a quick chat.

The Lord said he and his wife were about to enjoy a few days in London. He laughingly explained that he would slip into the Lords to ensure that he received the up to £300 attendance allowance plus hotel costs. Other peers do the same.

David Cameron has appointed 50 new Lords, of whom 30 are Tories. The cost is estimated at least £1.3 million a year. To this must be added the costs of maintaining the building and feeding the peers. Compare their lifestyles with those who depend upon food banks, who simply could not afford the fare to London, who are hard pushed to clothe their children.

The SNP do not nominate Lords. The Scottish Labour Party includes several who now, as Lords, reinforce social and financial inequality. What a contrast with Keir Hardie. At his burial, there were no representatives of the Conservative and Liberal parties. To my knowledge, no Lords were there. Yet hundreds of working class people lined the streets. He left little money and the Labour party paid for the funeral.

Early in his career, he declined an offer from the Liberals of money and a seat in the Commons. After year as a prominent MP he could have become a Lord. He did not. Overall his political and social behaviour is seen in an incident when he was Labour’s parliamentary leader. A woman from a struggling union of telephone girls got into the Commons to seek his help. An influential MP almost pushed her out of the way in order to address Hardie, who responded by coldly rejecting him. Although tired, he then left to meet the women

After the massive defeat in Scotland in the General Election, Scottish Labour senior figures have acknowledged that they must listen to ordinary members. So they should poll members to ask whether or not they want the Lords to be abolished. If “yes”, Scottish lords should have the integrity to resign. But why stop at the Lords?

Alex Rowley, the deputy leader, has called for a national referendum on whether Trident should be abolished. Of course, with the Tories in office this will never happen. But Scottish Labour could put the question to their members

In addition, the party should have the courage to ask whether or not it wants an independent Scotland. The Lords, nuclear disarmament, independence. The results would reveal just how radical and socialist are the majority of Labour members.

Bob Holman is the author of Keir Hardie. Labour’s Greatest Hero? Lion Hudson, recently reprinted with an introduction by Gordon Brown