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Peers back down on reform clash

The climb down came when Tory Lord Campbell of Alloway withdrew an amendment to the House of Lords Bill.

If passed, the amendment would have forced ministers to hold a referendum on their manifesto commitment to end centuries of tradition and remove all hereditary peers from the House of Lords.

Lord Campbell's decision followed a warning by the former Tory leader in the Lords, Viscount Cranborne, that the amendment would have the effect of wrecking the bill and therefore breaking a convention whereby peers do not oppose the will of the Commons on manifesto pledges.

The bill is currently undergoing its committee stage debate in the Lords where peers examine the detail of the bill, line by line.

The debate is scheduled to finish next week, and over a 160 amendments to the bill are due to be discussed by peers.

The government has already announced that it is "minded" to accept only one amendment to the bill which was set down by former Commons speaker and now cross-bench peer Lord Weatherill.

The amendment would allow 91 hereditary peers to remain in the House while the government deliberates over the second stage of Lords reform.

The Lord Chancellor, Lord Irvine of Lairg, who was on the government front bench to listen to the debate, has warned any attempt to hold up the reforms would threaten the Weatherill compromise.

He said any attempts at obstruction would result in the government forcing the legislation through using the Parliament Act.

The government will not publish its plans for a fully reformed second chamber until after the Royal Commission on Lords reform headed by former Tory Cabinet minister Lord Wakeham reports in December.

At the start of the debate the Tory Lords leader Lord Strathclyde warned that the bill was being used "to settle an old party score".

He added: "Declaring war on hereditary peers is not the answer. You cannot destroy the hereditary peerage without exposing the life peerage."

But Lords Leader Baroness Jay rejected the request, saying the Conservative Constitutional Commission chaired by Tory former Lord Chancellor Lord Mackay of Clashfern had said there was no role in the reformed chamber for the hereditary peerage.

Lady Jay added: "Indeed, the Commission's report goes out of its way to say the link between the peerage and the second chamber should be severed.

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