ONLY 13 per cent of people in the UK would oppose the abolition of the House of Lords while a majority would support the move, new polling has found.

The news comes despite Labour U-turning on a pledge to replace the unelected upper chamber of the Westminster parliament in the first five years after taking power.

In 2022, Labour leader Keir Starmer said he wanted to reform the House of Lords in part because “people have lost faith in the ability of politicians and politics to bring about change”.

However, in recent days reports in outlets including the FT and the Observer have confirmed that Starmer’s party has now ditched its commitment to abolishing the Lords.

READ MORE: Top ranking Labour activist: 'I don't believe a word Keir Starmer says'

Labour have decided only to tweak the upper chamber, reports say, by slowly cutting the total number of both peers and hereditary peers (of which there are 92), and bringing in a new appointment process.

However, polling has shown that abolishing the Lords would have overwhelming popular support.

A YouGov survey of 2561 British voters, conducted on February 8, found that 59% of people would support abolishing the upper house.

The majority is even larger among people who voted Labour in 2019. A massive 72% would back abolishing the Lords.

And the majority remains in place for both 2019 Tory and LibDems voters, who support abolition by 57% and 56% respectively.

The National:

As well as huge popular support, the YouGov poll also suggested that the former Labour policy had very minor opposition among the public.

Only 5% said they strongly opposed the idea, while 8% said they “somewhat” opposed it, for a total of 13%.

Less than one in 10 Labour voters from 2019 (9%) opposed the policy, while only around one in five 2019 Tory and LibDem voters (19% and 22% respectively) would oppose the move.

Labour were called out for their U-turn on the popular policy, which came in the same week as a key pledge to spend £28 billion on green investment every year was scaled back to less than that over an entire parliamentary term.

David Linden, the SNP’s social justice spokesperson at Westminster, said: “To be fair, Labour has been promising to abolish the House of Lords since 1910 then reneging.

“Anyone who actually expects that it will ever happen is a fantasist.”

Glasgow University historian Ewan Gibbs shared a Labour poster from 1910 which pledged the party would clear the way by getting rid of the upper chamber.

Gibbs wrote: “This poster is from 1910 but the fight to abolish the House of Lords goes on comrades!”

Scottish Government minister Kaukab Stewart asked: “Once again, what is the difference between Labour and the Tories?”