THREE Scottish hereditary peers who are heading back to the House of Lords as life members cost the public purse at least £190,000 since the 2024 General Election.
On April 29, 2026, 92 hereditary peers who had remained in the upper chamber lost their right to sit in the Lords, including 12 with Scottish titles.
But just weeks later, on May 12, 2026, the UK Government announced that 26 of those 92 members would be given life peerages and allowed to return.
Of those 26 returning, three have Scottish titles – Conservative peer Lord Reay, Aeneas Mackay, Crossbench peer Viscount Colville of Culross, Charles Colville, and Conservative peer Lord Strathclyde, Thomas Galbraith.
The SNP criticised the UK Labour Government for allowing the three hereditary peers to “stuff their pockets” at the expense of the public purse, after vowing to reform the upper chamber ahead of the election.
The National analysed the available expenses data from the Lords from July 2024 until November 2025. The expenses releases tend to run around five months behind.
Lord Strathclyde, who is registered as living in Ayrshire, joined the Lords as a Conservative hereditary peer in March 1986.
Previously, Galbraith was leader of the House of Lords between May 2010 and January 2013, when David Cameron was prime minister, and has had ministerial roles in the Department of Trade, Scotland Office and others.
Strathclyde’s net worth is estimated to be around £10 million, primarily due to his stake in Auchendrane Estates Ltd, his family’s landowning and estate management company. His primary family estate is Barskimming House, a historic country estate in Mauchline, Ayrshire.
The National’s analysis found Lord Strathclyde attended the second house on 189 occasions, and claimed £66,602 in daily allowance. He also claimed £11,246 in travel expenses,£9659 worth of air travel, £1213 for car expenses, and £118 worth of rail, ferry and coach expenses.
Viscount Colville of Culross’s title relates to the county of Perth. He was the deputy speaker of the Lords before he was temporarily excluded from the Lords. He first joined in July 2011 and is a former TV producer and director, his net worth is not publicly known.
For 189 days in the Lords, Colville claimed £69,309 in daily allowance, and no expenses, bar £17 of free postage.
Lord Reay, the hereditary Mackay clan chief, holds a Scottish peerage in the county of Caithness, and joined the Lords in 2019 after winning a hereditary peers by-election.
He is also a Dutch nobleman and an investment banker.
Reay attended the Lords for 155 days across the available expenses period, and claimed £44, 836 in daily allowance. He did not claim any travel expenses.
Overall the three peers claimed £192,010 over 16 months.
In response to our analysis, SNP MSP George Adam said: “Keir Starmer promised to abolish the Lords, but just like the rest of the Labour’s promises, it now lies in tatters.
"The Lords is now so bloated with peers it is the second-largest legislative chamber in the world, surpassed in size only by China's National People's Congress, and costs UK taxpayers more than £200 million a year.
“Yet Labour continues to stuff the place with hereditary peers who line their pockets at our expense while the rest of the country struggles with the spiralling cost of living.
“With the Labour Party showing no interest in ditching this archaic and anti-democratic institution, it is clear that the only way Scotland can be rid of the House of Lords is by becoming an independent country.”
