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Lord Dholakia tells peers that the Royal College of Psychiatrists has said that the age of criminal responsibility is too low.

He argues that children dealt with by the criminal justice system are more likely to offend and those labelled as offenders "feel the need to live up to that label."

He adds that children who offend often come from disadvantaged backgrounds.

If this bill is passed, it would, he says, make the criminal justice system more human and more effective."

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Peers now move on to Lord Dholakia's Age of Criminal Responsibility Bill at second reading.

The bill would raise the age of criminal responsibility in England and Wales from 10 to 12.

Children under the age of 10 cannot be arrested or charged with a crime in the current legal framework.

Children between 10 and 17 can be arrested and taken to court if they commit a crime.

Under-18s are dealt with by youth courts, and given different sentences, and are not sent to adult prisons.

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The debate comes to an end and the bill passes its second reading stage.

The bill will now move on to the committee stage when peers will be able to debate amendments.

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Lord Grocott has a chance to respond and tells peers that his bill is not about reducing the size of the house.

That, he says would be "a very small net benefit".

He notes that no one in the debate, apart from Lord Mancroft, provided a positive argument for the by-election.

He suggests that Lord Mancroft is "nostalgic" for the days when peers were hereditary and conservative voting.

He concludes that his arguments for change are "overwhelming" and urges peers to "get on with it".

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"It's good to start private member's bill season with a traditional number," begins government spokesperson Lord Young of Cookham.

However he suggests the bill is premature as it "singles out one particualr reform and does little to address size of the house".

He recommends that peers wait for the findings of the committee looking into reducing the number of peers, external.

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Baroness Hayter now speaks for Labour.

She suggests those resisting the bill are "more interested in preserving Conservative interests than democracy".

She praises Lord Grocott's bill as a "modest, incremental and reasonable bill" and urges the minister to rise the challenge.

"This is for the government to see if it wants to continue a system where white men have a privileged way of finding their way into Parliament."

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Lib Dem peer Lord Tyler tells the House that the "two-party fix" reached in 1999 was only meant to last 18 months.

"18 years later, it is long past its sell by date", he adds.

The "discredited, outdated stitch-up does nothing to enahnce the reputation of the Hosue of Lords," he argues.

"It's surely time to go," he says and urges the government to "take the initiative."

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Conservative Lord Mancroft argues that the House of Lords has reduced in quality since the expulsion of the majority of hereditary peers.

He argues that the House of Lords has "has increasingly become a retirement home" for former MPs.

"They are an absolute menace," he says adding that they think that being a member of this house is a full time job.

"They think they ought to talk in every debate even when they have nothing to say."

He continues that former MPs' skills lie not in examining legislation but in adversarial politics.

"We don't do that here."

Former Treasury minister Lord O'Neill says a Conservative split continues to dominate Brexit.

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The current system undermines the credibility of the House of Lords, says Conservative Baroness Berridge.

She agrees with Lord Pannick's point that the system excludes women and adds that it also discriminates against ethnic minorities.

She blames the government for maintaining the status quo and asks how "a prime minister who cares passionately about racial injustice can lack the political will to sort out the situation."

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"These by-elections are quite simply an embarrassment," begins crossbencher Lord Pannick.

He asks how by-elections can be consistent with "basic principles of equality" when, apart from some exceptions, women are excluded from inheriting peerages.

He then turns to Lord Trefgarne's argument that hereditary peers should stay in place because of the deal reached in 1999.

Why should Parliament feel itself bound by what its predecessor did "a generation ago"? he asks.

MPs are seeking to 'undermine the UK's negotiations with the EU,' Nicky Morgan says

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Another opponent of the bill now speaks.

The Conservative Earl of Caithness tells peers that he intends to put down amendments to the bill which would take up time and makes it less likely that the bill will pass.

He says that if the bill succeeds "we will turn ourselves into a totally appointed chamber".

"That is quite wrong for the British constitution."

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When peers stand in a by-election they have to produce a personal statement.

When the Earl of Limerick stood for by-election his personal statement took the form of a poem:

The Upper House knows none so queer/ A creature as the Seatless Peer.

Flamingo-like he stands all day/ With no support to hold his sway.

And waits with covert eagerness/ For ninety-two to be one less.

Then on to hustings he must pace/ Once more to plead his special case.

Noble Lordships, spare a thought/ For one so vertically distraught,

And from your seats so well entrenched,/ Please vote that mine may be embenched

He failed to win the seat and in response produced this limerick:

The virtue of genes, I insist/ Should not be too lightly dismissed.

If a poll’s on the cards/ For hereditary bards,

My name will be found on the list.

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The next speaker is crossbencher and former Lord Speaker Baroness D'Souza.

She describes Lord Trefgarne's argument as one that "becomes weaker by the day."

She adds that "a rational argument upholding the principle of hereditary peers has yet to be articulated".

She suggest that those hereditary peers wishing to join the House of Lords could apply in the same ways as others - using the "criteria of expertise and willingness to participate".

The government is accused of "lacking ambition" after rejecting recommendations to boost women MPs.

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One of those opponents, Conservative peer Lord Trefgarne, now has his say.

Turning the clock back to 1997 he tells peers that the existence of the 92 hereditary peers was the result of a deal reached between peers and the Labour government.

Under that deal the 92 peers could remain until House of Lords reform was complete.

Lord Trefgarne notes that such reform is not yet complete.

He therefore describes the bill as "inappropriate and untimely".