Switching from goat and calf skin to archival paper, which can survive for up to 500 years, is expected to save around £80,000 a year.
Peers said printing two copies of each Act of Parliament, one for the Parliamentary Archives and one for the National Archives, was “extremely expensive”.
The House of Lords took the decision to end the practice in 1999 but the move was blocked by MPs.
LONDON — For centuries, acts of Parliament and other important documents have been inscribed on vellum, a parchment made from calfskin. Magna Carta, which King John signed 800 years ago last year, was written on vellum. So was the Domesday Book compiled in 1086, 20 years after William the Conqueror sailed across the English Channel.
This ancient tradition has survived wars, revolutions and the rise and fall of the British Empire. Now, the use of vellum, which has been a contentious issue for more than a decade, has fallen victim to austerity.
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A House of Lords spokesman defended the decision: “Last year the House of Lords asked the Commons Administration Committee to revisit the issue. Earlier this year the Chairman of the Commons Administration Committee wrote to the Chairman of Committees in the House of Lords to say they considered it plainly a matter for the House of Lords and that it was unlikely time would be found to debate the issue in the House of Commons.
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The thousand year old tradition of printing Britain's laws on vellum has been scrapped to save just £80,000 a year despite concerns from MPs about ending the historic practice.
The House of Lords have confirmed that from April all legislation will printed on simple archive paper instead of the traditional calfskin vellum.
A North East MP is leading calls to save a Parliamentary tradition - by printing laws on parchment made of goatskin.
MP Sharon Hodgson is demanding that the nation continues printing Acts of Parliament on vellum, a parchment made of treated animal skin.
Public Acts of Parliament are currently printed twice on vellum, with one copy stored in the National Archives based in Surrey and a second stored in the Parliamentary Archives in one of Parliament’s towers.
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