The first day of debate on the Queen's Speech in the House of Lords will focus on constitutional affairs, allowing peers to give their views on plans to reform the upper chamber.

The Queen's speech confirmed Tony Blair's government will use the new parliamentary session to abolish the right of hereditary peers to sit and vote in the Lords.

The Tories are taking the line that while they are not opposed to Lords reform in principle, it should not be embarked on without a clear view of what would replace the current upper house.

In the Commons debate on the Queen's speech, Mr Blair faced charges from Conservative leader William Hague that Labour's plans would turn the House of Lords into "a House of Cronies".

Mr Hague said his party might table an amendment calling for the bill on voting rights to be put on hold until Labour had revealed its long-term plans for the Lords.

The Queen's Speech confirmed the government's intention to make the move in this session

Removing the hereditaries is "stage one" of the government's Lords reform.

The shape and precise timing of stage two has not yet been decided - and looks unlikely to become clear before a Royal Commission on the subject delivers its conclusions.

That is some time away - at least a year. Though the establishment of the commission has been announced, its membership is still to be settled.

A Green Paper on Lords reform - expected before the end of the last parliamentary session - is also overdue.

BBC Political Correspondent Paul Rowley: The government fears guerilla tactics by the Lords

Labour has insisted that removing hereditary peers' voting rights is a self-contained reform in itself.

"It is time we ended the feudal domination of one half of our legislature by the Tory Party that claims a divine right to govern Britain and makes a hash of it every time they do," Mr Blair told the Commons.

The government has hinted that the Lords reform bill itself may not appear until well into the new year, as part of a tactical bid to safeguard the rest of its legislative programme.

Political Correspondent Jon Devitt: Delaying tactics could hold up all new legislation

Ministers fear that peers, on final notice that the axe is being wielded over a number of them, could eat into parliamentary time by cutting up rough on other areas of government legislation.

Deputy Prime Minister John Prescott on Wednesday told the Parliamentary Labour Party it was better to tackle the Lords now than allow them to continue savaging part's of the government's programme for years to come.

The Labour MPs strongly backed swift action to remove hereditary peers from the House of Lords.

One of peers' final acts of the parliamentary session that ended last week was to reject - for a fifth time - the government's European Elections Bill to introduce proportional representation for next year's Euro-elections.

Neither the government nor an alliance of Tories, hereditary peers, Labour rebels and crossbenchers would compromise over the detail of what particular form of PR should be used.