By Tom Layfield - 9th July 2012
The Bill would establish a smaller House of Lords, comprised of around 460 full-time peers, 80 percent of which would be elected for a single term of three Parliaments.
The House of Lords Reform Bill will begin its second reading in the Commons today, amid growing dissent from all sides of the House.
Nick Clegg's reform project has been in the pipeline since the coalition first took shape in 2010, and despite the trials the government has since endured, it has remained high on its official agenda.
A draft Bill and white paper were published in May 2011, with the final Bill being introduced to the Commons on 27 June this year. Since the Bill was confirmed in the Queen's speech, the government has been criticised on almost all fronts, with Tory backbenchers resisting the reforms and Labour arguing that it would be frivolous to pursue Lords reform at the expense of more pressing issues.
The government has taken the rare step of allotting two days to the Bill's second reading in the Commons, perhaps to allow all views to be aired before the vote.
The Bill would establish a smaller House of Lords, comprised of around 460 full-time peers, 80 percent of which would be elected for a single term of three Parliaments.
Labour has objected to the details of this plan, preferring a fully elected upper House with a referendum before the plans can go ahead. Their view on the appropriate electoral system seems to have been heeded by the government though, with the single transferable vote system proposed in the draft legislation replaced by a proportional list system in the final Bill.
The extent to which the government's Conservative core are prepared to back the plans in the face of backbench opposition remains to be seen, but the programme motion against which Labour are set to vote may provide a clue.
The government proposes that the Bill should be examined in a committee of the whole House, ostensibly because it regards a matter of such importance that all MPs should be entitled to contribute to the debate.
This route will provide many more opportunities for backbench rebellions than a public bill committee would, and it is hard to imagine the government having provided such for one of its flagship reform Bills from the previous Session.
It also means that only 10 days will be allotted to committee stage, lending credence to Labour's claim that there is not enough time to debate such an important Bill.
Aware of the threats the Bill faces, the Lib Dems have assumed a tough stance, threatening to block the boundary changes it has promised the Tories if the Bill is killed off by rebel Conservative backbenchers.
You can follow the ups and downs of the House of Lords Reform Billas it progresses through Parliament using Dods Legislation – the legislation tracking tool that gathers Bills, amendments and related documents in one place. For a complimentary, no-obligation trial of the service, visit the website.