Blair 'watering down reforms'

Tony Blair was today accused of trying to water down plans to make the House of Lords more democratic and of planning to fill it with Labour patrons rather than elected members.

The Government is shortly to put forward its blueprint for reforming the Lords and is expected to recommend between 16 and 20 per cent of peers be publicly elected.

A similar percentage would be chosen by the independent Appointments Commission, leaving 60 per cent to be nominated by political parties based on their share of the vote in the general election. Lord Strathclyde, Tory leader in the Lords, called for a joint committee to decide the proportion of elected appointees.

There are concerns appointing two thirds of peers would lead to new charges of "cronyism" and be little different from the old system of patronage.

Lord Strathclyde said: "If you want a House to be strong, independent and authoritative, that means you have to have a substantial proportion of elected members."