Letter: Lords reform defeat

Sir: In creating two classes of hereditary peers (those entitled to a seat in Parliament and those deprived of such a right), the Weatherill deal - to retain 92 hereditaries during the interim stage of reform - has turned the Government's House of Lords Bill into a hybrid Bill, ie it can no longer be classified as a public Bill.

Given that the Parliaments Acts of 1911 and 1949 apply to public Bills only, the Government will be unable to force the House of Lords Bill into law if the peers vote it down at the Third Reading next month.

This they must do, since it is the only sane reaction to a government that has demonstrated its lack of both policy and principle in the matter of Lords reform.

EARL OF BURFORD

Hadleigh, Suffolk