Downplaying of House of Lords reform agenda signals greater coalition tensions

LEGISLATION TO reform the House of Lords will be put before MPs shortly, but it will not be a priority, chancellor of the exchequer George Osborne has said, in the first sign that last week’s election results will increase tensions between the Conservative and Liberal Democrats.

The plans to replace the existing Lords over 15 years with an elected chamber of senators has been pushed strongly by Liberal Democrat deputy prime minister Nick Clegg as part of his package of constitutional reform measures.

The changes are deeply disliked by the Conservatives, but opposition exists among all of the three largest parties, although all three of them promised some reform of the unelected upper chamber before the 2010 election.

“Parliament can discuss these issues . . . but it is certainly not my priority, it is not the priority of the Government . . . it is not where the efforts of the Government, of the executive are going to be directed,” said the Chancellor of the Exchequer.

The reforms, which are expected to consume the largest share of parliamentary time over the next year, will form the heart of next Wednesday’s Queen’s Speech, unless last-minute changes are made to the text.

However, Mr Osborne’s remarks, if followed through on, indicate that the legislation is dead in the water before it starts, since neither he nor prime minister David Cameron are prepared to put in the effort needed to get it passed.

Since Thursday’s elections, Mr Cameron and Mr Osborne have faced a volley of calls from Conservative MPs to abandon Lords reform and plans to legalise gay marriage, arguing that neither chime with voters’ concerns.

Despite tacking towards them to heed their concerns, Mr Osborne rejected the argument that either issue played a role in voters’ decisions: “The idea that people voted Labour on Thursday . . . because of our plans for gay marriage or House of Lords reform is simply not the case.”

Faced with strong criticism of his own performance, he accepted that mistakes he made in his March budget – the failure to flag pensioners’ tax changes in advance, higher VAT on some hot foods – had contributed to the government’s worst month in office.

Writing in the newspaper with the largest middle-class readership, the Mail on Sunday, the chancellor of the exchequer said: “The way the budget was presented meant this message wasn’t heard. I take responsibility for that.”

Pledging to take voters’ punishment “on the chin”, Mr Osborne insisted, however, that the basic construct of his budgetary strategy will remain unchanged, arguing that is “a national consensus around the deficit reduction plan”.

Earlier, Conservative MP Nadine Dorries, who inflicted serious damage on Mr Cameron and Mr Osborne recently by calling them “two arrogant posh boys who wouldn’t know the price of milk”, said both could be ousted by rebel Tory MPs “within a year”.

Last night, however, Ms Dorries, a long-time opponent of Mr Cameron and one who has not forgiven a parliamentary insult last year from him during a Commons debate, has pushed too early, too soon, several MPs believed yesterday.

Rejecting Labour’s demands for economic policy changes, Mr Osborne said Labour leader, Ed Miliband and shadow chancellor, Ed Balls are “like a pair of heavy drinkers trying to wash away problems by opening another bottle”.

Responding, Mr Balls said: “George Osborne’s looking a bit rattled today, isn’t he? And you learn with David Cameron and George Osborne, when they get rattled and under pressure, they always get personal, they always lash out.”