Almost £1.3 million in expenses and allowances was claimed last year by peers who failed to speak a single time in the House of Lords.

Members of the Lords are entitled to claim £300 a day for attending Parliament – even if they do not speak or vote in any debate.

Over the course of the entire last Parliament – from 2010 to 2015 – 30 peers claimed more than £750,000 without ever speaking in the Lords.

The chief executive of the Electoral Reform Society, Katie Ghose, denounced the figures as a ‘national scandal’ which strengthened the case for reform of Parliament’s upper house.

She called on Prime Minister David Cameron – who last month announced 45 new peers, bringing the total to over 800 – to take action to deliver a democratic second chamber.

The society went through speaking and voting records for the Lords – not including brief interjections, written questions and answers or attendance in committees – to determine how many peers were failing to contribute to debates.