Prescott rejects an all-elected Lords

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Leading article: Don't give up on the Lords

John Prescott has come out against electing members of the House of Lords, in a move that could kill reform of the upper house for this parliament. Speaking to The Independent on Sunday, the Deputy Prime Minister for the first time publicly backed Lord Irvine, the Lord Chancellor, in rejecting the calls for a substantially elected chamber.

Mr Prescott went further than the Government has done so far by warning that the failure to reach agreement could kill the chances of further reform for this parliament.

His intervention was prompted by reports that other ministers, led by Robin Cook, Leader of the Commons, would support a compromise to allow 50 per cent of the Lords to be elected.

It will confirm the suspicions of the cross-party group of MPs calling for an elected upper house that the Government has got cold feet about further Lords reform.

Mr Prescott is acting as the champion for growing numbers of Labour MPs who do not want the power of the Commons to be challenged by a substantially elected upper house but so far have not raised their voices. He also has Tony Blair's backing.

The impasse could mean that the Lords will continue indefinitely with its present complement of life peers, and over 90 hereditary peers who were allocated seats for life in a ballot. The Government has proposed that 20 per cent of the Lords should be elected, but Mr Prescott favours no elected element at all, if agreement cannot be reached.

"If we move away from 20 per cent, it is choice between nothing and 100 per cent," he said. "A wholly elected House of Lords is totally unacceptable. Some are saying they are looking for a new centre of gravity which talks about a substantial proportion being elected. That would be a direct threat to the sovereignty of the House of Commons. It would also change the role of the House of Lords as a revising chamber. My centre of gravity is a choice between 100 per cent and zero, and if the option of 20 per cent is not acceptable, I would like to reassert the option of zero."

* A profile of Mr Prescott in this month's GQ by Donald MacIntyre of The Independent reveals that Alastair Campbell favoured an apology after Mr Prescott's left hook at an egg-thrower during the election.