Parliament & Politics: Tories to ambush hereditary peers Bill

LORDS REFORM

TORY PEERS are planning to ambush the Government's Bill to reform the House of Lords by tabling a key amendment to put off the abolition of hereditary peers' voting rights until after a Royal Commission has delivered its report.

The move would wreck the Government's plan to abolish the right of hereditary peers to speak and vote in the Lords before the next general election.

A White Paper is due to be published after the Queen's Speech on Tuesday, which will contain the Bill on the first stage of Lords reform.

Baroness Jay, the Leader of the House of Lords, has already promised a Royal Commission on stage two of the reforms to the Lords, including the possibility of electing the upper house.

The pressure for the Government to delay any changes until the commission has reported was stepped up yesterday by the cross-party campaign called Commons Sense for Lords Reform.

The campaign published an ICM poll, which showed that 68 per cent believed the Lords should be left as it is until the long-term changes had been decided.