The British Prime Minister, Mr Tony Blair, yesterday unveiled "radical and historic" plans to end 800 years of tradition as the government published its long-awaited White Paper on the reform of the House of Lords.
Proposing an end to the "fundamental anachronism" of hereditary peers and the creation of a "modern Parliament for a modern Britain", the leader of the House of Lords, Baroness Jay, declared that the government was committed to the principle that no individuals should have the right to be members of Parliament solely on the basis of the actions or positions of their ancestors.
Under a short government Bill also published yesterday, hundreds of hereditary peers will lose the right to sit and vote in the House of Lords - this is expected to take effect at the end of the present Parliamentary session this summer - but they will gain the right to vote in Parliamentary elections and stand for election as MPs without disclaiming their titles.
This proposal is not extended to life peers in the Lords and there will be no change in the position of Law Lords or Church of England bishops, who will remain in the second chamber as of right.
The leader of the Commons, Ms Margaret Beckett, presented the Bill and the White Paper to MPs after Question Time yesterday.
The "stage one" transitional reform will see up to 91 hereditary peers remain in the Lords and the creation of "people's peers" nominated by the public in what is viewed as the government's attempt to head off criticism that the Lords will be packed with "Tony's cronies". There is also the radical prospect that with the establishment of devolved assemblies in Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland, assembly members could be nominated to a reformed House of Lords in the second stage of the government's plans. It raises the possibility that nationalist and unionist Assembly members - for example the Sinn Fein leader, Mr Gerry Adams - could be selected to sit in the Lords. However, in the light of Mr Adams's refusal to take his seat in the Commons as a democratically-elected MP, there seems little chance that he would reverse his decision and sit in the Lords.
Lady Jay told peers that while the government was "minded" to accept the amendment to the Bill - which led to the sacking of the former Tory leader in the Lords, Viscount Cranbourne - it would be dependent on assurances that Tories would not disrupt the government's legislative programme in the Lords.
The government also plans to nominate a fresh crop of Labour peers to balance the in-built majority of Tory peers in the Lords in the first stage of reform.
This stage of reform will operate until a Royal Commission - established under the terms of the White Paper and headed by the former Tory cabinet minister, Lord Wakeham - reports to the government by the end of this year on the long-term structure and role of the Lords.
The complete package of reform is expected to be on the statute books in time for the next general election, as set out in the government's 1997 manifesto.
The government's White Paper also proposes to reduce the Prime Minister's "unfettered power of patronage" in nominating individuals to Queen Elizabeth for appointment as life peers.
An independent Appointments Commission will be established to recommend nominations to the cross benches (peers who have no political affiliation) and to oversee the "propriety" of recommendations of Labour, Tory and Liberal Democrat peers in the transitional period of the Lords.
The Tory leader in the House of Lords, Lord Strathclyde, challenged the government's "half-baked" plans and described the reforms as a "solemn occasion, the first step on an uncertain road which will take us we know not where. Today is a sad day for Parliament. It's not a day for rejoicing".