Tomorrow's voters decide on Lords reform

The debate is the latest event in the House of Lords outreach programme that aims to raise awareness of the role and work of the Lords.

The students taking part learnt about the history of Parliament and the value of debate, the Lord Speaker, Baroness Hayman said, commenting before the event:

'This is a unique opportunity for students to debate what they feel the House of Lords is for and how they see its future, and I am greatly looking forward to listening to and learning from all of their views. I am delighted that we are opening up the chamber to students from such a diverse range of backgrounds for today’s debate. I hope they will feel they have benefited from participating both in terms of improving their understanding of Parliament and their debating skills.'

The 220 students from schools and colleges across England and Wales had plenty of opportunity to participate in a lively, insightful debate.

Learn more about the reform options and the arguments made:

• House of Lords annual debate for young people, Elect, Select or Reject: the Future of the House of Lords

Following the debate, the students voted on the four options. And the result of their vote was:

• Fully appointed: 81
• Hybrid: 48
• Abolition: 26
• Fully elected: 8

Further information

BBC Parliament is screening ‘Elect, Select or Reject: the Future of the House of Lords’ on Friday 17 December at 4pm and it will be available to watch on iPlayer.

• View photographs from the event in the House of Lords outreach collection on Parliament’s Flickr channel (available Monday 13 December).
• Watch a short film about the event, including vox pops from the audience and speakers, on the House of Lords playlist on the UK Parliament YouTube channel (available on Friday 17 December).
• A transcript of the debate will also be available (Friday 17 December).