Opposition dismisses 'insult' to Parliament

The Government's plans to complete its reform of the House of Lords were described as "an insult" and "a fudge" by Tories yesterday after ministers outlined the proposals to both Houses of Parliament.

The Conservatives were joined by Liberal Democrats and a raft of Labour backbenchers in attacking the White Paper on the second chamber for its failure to create a substantially elected new body.

Robin Cook, the Leader of the Commons, and Lord Williams of Mostyn, the Leader of the Lords, made statements claiming that Britain did not need a second chamber that mirrored the Commons.

However, Eric Forth, the shadow Leader of the Commons, launched a savage critique of the plans and claimed that Mr Cook, "the democrat", had been overruled by the Lord Chancellor, Lord Irvine of Lairg, "the autocrat".

Mr Forth said that the three-month consultation period on the White Paper was too short, while its contents were "neither one thing nor another".

"We were told at the time the hereditary peers were eliminated that they were an affront to democracy. The question arises whether the Government are content that their proposed format for the upper house is any less of an affront," he said. "At worst we will have a continuation and an institutionalisation of Tony's cronies."

In the Lords, the shadow Leader of the House, Lord Strathclyde, claimed that the proposals had been "cooked up in the Cabinet Office over a decanter of port.

"Whenever I look for a philosophy behind this reform I find just opportunism. Whenever I look for a set of principles, I find only expediency," he said. "It is a fig leaf of a token element of elected peers designed to mask the design of the Prime Minister and his cronies to keep their grip on this House."

He challenged Lord Will-iams to say how the lords' numbers would be reduced, and if those over 75 would be "forced into retirement", which he said he understood was the plan for senior former law lords. He also demanded to know how the Lords would be "rebalanced" to reflect party strength after each election.

Back in the Commons, the Liberal Democrat frontbencher Paul Tyler said Mr Cook had broken a 1997 promise to produce "a democratic and representative second chamber". He said: "I'm sure the House will recognise that the rats have got at that since then."

Mr Cook said that he admired Mr Forth's "brass neck" given the failure of the Tories in 18 years of government to introduce any elected element to the Lords. But a series of Labour backbenchers caused Mr Cook more embarrassment, with Fiona Mactaggart, MP for Slough, Tony Wright, MP for Cannock Chase, Gordon Prentice, MP for Pendle, and Dennis Skinner, MP for Bolsover, all criticising the proposals.

Ms McTaggart asked Mr Cook what he would do if the overwhelming response to the consultation was that he should go further in terms of the number of elected members. Mr Cook refused to speculate on a "hypothetical response" but in a clear hint that he was open to further reform, he said the Government was genuine about the consultation.

Mr Skinner called for the Lords to be abolished. "I'm not in favour of the elected system and I'm not in favour of the system where the chattering classes are going to reproduce themselves in the House of Lords," he said.

Julie Morgan, the Labour MP for Cardiff North, asked why, at 20 per cent, the proportion of elected members was so low, and asked if Mr Cook saw this as the final stage in the democratising process.