The Government believes that an effective and credible Second Chamber is essential to the health of our democracy. It has a valuable role to play in the legislative process of this country in revising legislation and reviewing and questioning the work of the House of Commons.

The 2005 manifesto proposed to continue reform of the House of Lords to make it more effective, legitimate and representative, without challenging the primacy of the House of Commons. The Leader is responsible for taking forward this next stage of reform.

The manifesto committed to a review by a Joint Committee on the conventions of the Lords; a free vote in both Houses on the composition of the House; the removal of the hereditary peers; and a reasonable time limit on the length of time the Lords has to consider a Bill.

The Joint Committee which was established under the Chairmanship of Lord Cunningham of Felling, to consider the practicality of codifying the key conventions on the relationship between the two Houses of Parliament which affect the consideration of legislation, reported on 3 November 2006. The Government's response to the Joint Committee was published on 13 December. The House of Lords took note, with approval, of the Joint Committee's report on 16 January; the House of Commons did the same on 17 January. The Hansard link to both debates can be found below.

Alongside the Joint Committee's work, the Leader has been working with colleagues on all sides both Houses in an intensive effort to reach a consensus on how a future House might look.  In particular, he has chaired a Cross Party group on the issue. The group includes representatives from the Labour, Conservative and Liberal Democrat parties in both Houses, a representative of the Lords Spiritual and of the Cross-Bench peers.

On 7 February, the Leader published a White Paper, The House of Lords: Reform (Cm 7027).  The Paper sets the stage for the free votes on the composition of the House of Lords, promised in the Government's 2005 manifesto.  The paper takes account of the discussions in the cross party talks and the report of the Joint Committee on Conventions. A link to the paper can be found below.

Free votes on the composition of a future House of Lords took place in both Houses in March 2007. Members of both Houses were asked to vote on a series of options - from 100% appointed to 100% elected. On 7 March, the Commons voted for an 80% elected second chamber, and a fully elected second chamber. A week later, the Lords voted for a fully appointed second chamber. Links to the debates in both Houses can be found below.

The Leader will return to the House of Commons in due course to make a statement on the way forward.