MPs to get free vote on options for Lords reform

The Cabinet has approved a plan to reform the House of Lords which would see half of its members directly elected by the public.

In a White Paper due to be published next week, the Government will propose that party leaders recommend 30 per cent of the members of the second chamber and an independent appointments commission 20 per cent. The remainder would be voted in at the same time as European Parliament elections. The aim will be to reduce the 748-member House of Lords to a 540-strong chamber but, in the short term, its size would almost certainly increase. As The Independent disclosed last week, the 91 remaining hereditary peers and the 605 life peers would not automatically lose their right to sit and vote in the Lords.

The life peers will qualify for redundancy payments if they stand down but will be allowed to remain if they wish. Jack Straw, the Leader of the Commons who is in charge of Lords reform, felt it would be wrong to "evict" people, some of whom had given up outside jobs and make financial sacrifices to be working peers.

The White Paper will include two options on the hereditaries - removing them immediately, like the 759 who lost their right to sit and vote in the Lords in 1999, or allowing them literally to die out. Mr Straw is cautious about an immediate eviction because 47 of the 91 hereditaries are Conservatives and kicking them out would alter the party balance in the chamber.

He believes his approach to the existing peers would improve the chances of the Lords approving the reform plan. But other ministers believe that allowing the hereditaries to "die out" would breach the pledge in Labour's 2005 election manifesto to remove them.

MPs will be allowed a free vote when the Commons debates the White Paper next month. Some ministers have argued for an 80 per cent elected Lords, including Hilary Benn, the International Development Secretary, Peter Hain, the Northern Ireland Secretary, and David Miliband, the Environment Secretary.

To prevent a repeat of the fiasco three years ago when MPs rejected all the options before them, this time they will list seven options in order of preference.

The options will be: all peers to be elected; 80 per cent elected, 20 per cent appointed; 60 per cent elected, 40 per cent appointed; half and half; 40 per cent elected, 60 per cent appointed; 20 per cent elected; 80 per cent appointed; and all appointed.

In a highly unusual move, MPs will indicate their preferences on a ballot paper instead of voting in the division lobbies. The least popular option will be knocked out and second-preference votes redistributed until one option achieves a majority.

A plan to elect 80 per cent was rejected by just three votes in 2003 and many MPs believe it will be approved next month.

Mr Straw, who wants to raise the quality of peers in the wake of the "cash- for-honours" affair, will propose a double threshold to ensure candidates meet "propriety and suitability" criteria. Governments would not be able to appoint peers to raise their party's numbers and the reforms would be phased in over three parliaments.