Four peers have been stripped of their membership of the House of Lords after they failed to attend any proceedings during the last year.

Lord Speaker Baroness D'Souza's announcement the peers were no longer members was met with laughter within the House as she thanked them for their "much-valued service".

Independent cross-benchers Lord Bridges and Lord Neill of Bladen, non-affiliated peer Lord Thomas of Macclesfield and Liberal Democrat Baroness Thomas of Walliswood, were stripped of their memberships under the House of Lords Reform Act 2014, after they failed to attend during 2015-2016.

Liberal Democrat Baroness Walmsley chided her colleagues' "somewhat hurtful" response to the announcement, adding that Lady Thomas was an excellent and very hard-working peer when she was in "full health" and the other peers had a similar track record.