Setback for Clegg Lords reform bid (From The Argus)

Setback for Clegg Lords reform bid

4:58pm Tuesday 10th July 2012 in National News © Press Association 2013

Nick Clegg's House of Lords reform plans have been dealt a severe blow after the Government was forced to drop its timetable for the legislation in the face of a significant Tory revolt.

The Deputy Prime Minister earlier admitted that the House of Lords Reform Bill was "unlikely" to progress without some form of timetable to prevent the legislation being talked out in an open-ended process.

But as the second day of debate on the coalition Government's flagship constitutional shake-up began, Commons Leader Sir George Young announced that there would be no vote on the "programme motion" setting out time limits for the Bill's next stages.

Labour MPs were set to join with Tory rebels in opposing the motion, which restricted the detailed, line-by-line scrutiny of the Bill at committee stage to just 10 days.