UK's Queen unveils plans to reform Upper House

A bill to reform United Kingdom's House of Lords has been included in the Queen's speech as one of three constitutional bills, but severe doubts remain that the reforms will reach the statute book as David Cameron's aides continue to play it down.

Tory MPs are expected to mount a rebellion, with Labour support, over the debate timetable for the bill and the need for a post-legislative referendum.

The Liberal Democrats are for the moment relieved that the bill has made the programme.

Lord Strathclyde, the Conservative leader of the Lords, ostensibly supported the measure in a tongue-in-cheek interview in the Financial Times, but then stoked the rebellion by saying a reformed second chamber would be expensive, possess greater power and, if it had existed in the 1980s, would have blocked Thatcherite privatisation.

Ministers stressed that the reform can go through only if there is cross-party consensus.

The government has already published a draft bill, but the eventual bill will also reflect the government's response to a joint committee report on Lords reform.