AN important election for a new member of the Houses of Parliament takes place today, involving Glasgow.

The Earl of Glasgow.

The Lord, the 10th Earl of Glasgow, Patrick Robin Archibald Boyle, is one of three men who will choose a new member of the House of Lords.

The will choose from a list of seven men who have inherited their title from their father to become the 817th current member of the House of Lords.

While few people in the city may be aware of the existence of the Earl of Glasgow, he has a say in the laws of the land and has this year voted on issues like welfare reform, tax credits, student support and housing and planning.

The new member will, like the Earl who refers to himself as Patrick Glasgow, be able to sit and vote in the House of Lords and claim a daily allowance of £300 plus travel expenses.

The Earl of Glasgow, for the most recent published accounts claimed £3,900 for attending the Lords on 13 days last November.

In addition he was paid travel expenses of £1537, mostly air fares.

The previous month he was paid £2400 for attending on 8 days.

The Earl, 76, is the owner/manager of the Kelburn Estate and Country Estate, in Ayrshire with income from cottages, farm buildings and function hire.

He was educated at Eton and the Sorbonne in Paris, inherited the title from his father in 1985 and took his seat in the Lords in 2005.

He will be succeeded by his son David, Viscount Kelburn.

The Earl of Glasgow sits on the Works of Arts Committee and lists his parliamentary interests as including Scottish Affairs, Transport, Culture, media and Sport and the campaign to legalise assisted dying.

He has spoken on four occasions this year on tourism, airport expansion in London, the BBC charter and high Speed rail in the Midlands.

He has voted on eight Bills across 13 days this year.

Glasgow South SNP MP, Stewart McDonald said the election was a farce and he doubted if many of his constituents were aware of the Earl of Glasgow and his role in the House of Lords.

He, said: “It is a farcical affront to democracy. Out Lordships demonstrate perfectly why the whole institution needs abolished and a new democratic revising chamber established in its place.”

The Evening Times contacted the office of the Earl of Glasgow both in the House of Lords and at Kelburn Estate but was told: “The Earl of Glasgow is unfortunately away on business at present and will not be back until next week.”

The Earl, together with Lord Addington and the Earl of Oxford and Asquith will chose the new peer to replace Lord Avebury who died in February..

Those eligible to stand are Lord Calverley, Earl of Carlisle, Lord Kennet, Earl Lloyd-George of Dwyfor, Earl Russell, Lord Somerleyton and Viscount Thurso.

The vote will be conducted by the Clerk of the Parliaments assisted by the Electoral Reform Services and the result made known later today.