Lords Reform Report To Suggest 80% Election

A key report on House of Lords reform will today recommend the chamber becomes 80% elected in a move that will stir coalition tensions.

The Joint Committee - an all-party group of peers and MPs - will say members should serve non-renewable 15-year terms and be paid a salary instead of the current allowance.

The group's report, due to be published shortly, is also expected to say that a referendum should be held on the moves because of their constitutional significance.

Deputy Prime Minister Nick Clegg, who is championing the changes, has already insisted a public vote is unnecessary and would simply waste money.

Prime Minister David Cameron also says he is not in favour of a referendum - although he has not categorically ruled out holding one.

He said on Monday: "Personally I don't see it [holding a referendum] as a very compelling case - it would cost a lot of money but we live in a democracy. Parliament is going to debate and discuss this. 

"The committee is about to come and and say that a referendum would be a good idea so we don't rule it out. But we are only going to get Lords reform through if we all behave like reasonable, rational, sensible people."

The reforms risk exposing coalition divisions with senior Tories including Michael Gove and Iain Duncan Smith said to be among MPs who have doubts. 

Mr Clegg has warned that his coalition partner has to face down the rebellion, making clear that Lib Dems had been forced to support measures they did not like.

The report is being published as a YouGov poll, commissioned by the Unlock Democracy group, revealed 69% want a half, majority or wholly elected second chamber.

A third - 33% - backed a fully elected Lords while just 5% said they supported all peers being appointed.

A fifth of voters said they wanted a chamber with equal numbers of appointed and elected members.

Director of Unlock Democracy Peter Facey said: "The three major parties all committed themselves to democratic reform of the House of Lords at the last general election.

"They cannot spin or dissemble themselves out of this commitment and while it may not be on top of everyone's agenda, polls have consistently shown that the public support Lords reform themselves.

"The debate over whether to hold a referendum is a red herring. The question should be whether the public demand one."

On Sunday, Justice Secretary Ken Clarke - an ardent backer of Lords reform - admitted that a purely Tory government would not be pushing it through in this parliament.

But Mr Clegg cautioned against a situation where the parties began halting each others' favoured policies.

"I think one of the great things about this coalition, despite a lot of pressure to do otherwise, is that we haven't indulged in sort of tit-for-tat selective choice about which bit of the coalition agreement we are going to support or not," he said.

"We all entered into this Government knowing first of all that no-one had won a majority... and secondly that we had a clear programme of reform we wanted to introduce and we back them.

"I have asked Liberal Democrat MPs and peers to back a number of things - the NHS Bill, other things - that they didn't like at all.

"But I did it because it was in the spirit of the coalition, and I would ask all people from all sides of the coalition Government to continue to govern in that spirit because it is what I think the British people want."

©Sky News