House leaders aim to block plan for more people's peers

Labour's leaders in the Houses of Parliament, Robin Cook and Lord Williams of Mostyn, are trying to block Tony Blair's grand project of creating people's peers until reform of the second chamber is complete.

A struggle between Downing Street and the cabinet ministers over the Prime Minister's scheme has led to the sidelining of hundreds of applications from ordinary people hoping for peerages.

Downing Street has told members of the House of Lords Appointments Commission, which selected the first batch of 15 people's peers in April last year, to go ahead and name a new batch. But Mr Cook, Leader of the Commons, and Lord Williams, Leader of the Lords, have called for a delay until proposals for reform are finished next year.

The battle has frustrated members of the commission who, one source said, are "being pulled in two" and are "in limbo" until they receive firm instructions.

An expected annual report is understood to have been delayed, with 423 applications for peerages "sitting in a pile" until the power struggle is resolved. A number of the applicants have contacted the commission about the delay and are concerned that their applications have been shelved.

"People are asking questions about what is going on. Everything is basically on hold. We are being pulled in two directions," one commission source said.

Downing Street is keen that the scheme, championed by the Prime Minister as a way of making the Lords seem more accessible to members of the public rather than the political elite, is seen as successful.

The first appointments last year were widely ridiculed because the commission nominated several candidates who already held titles. They included Sir David Hannay, the former British ambassador to the United Nations and European Union; Lady Howe, a former deputy chairman of the Equal Opportunities Commission; and Sir Paul Condon, a former Commissioner of the Metropolitan Police.

The committee is expected to make its recommendations for a reconstituted Lords this month. Its proposals will be voted on by MPs next year.

Joyce Quin, a Labour member of the Joint Committee on House of Lords Reform, said: "If there is to be a vote in the very near future on options for reform of the House of Lords it would be sensible to look at this in the light of that vote."

A source close to Mr Cook said that it seemed logical to wait until the proposals for a reconstituted House of Lords were given later this month. "We are waiting the recommendations from the Joint Committee on House of Lords reform," he said.

The commission did not comment on the struggle but did not deny it had been asked to put its plans on hold. "We answer to Downing Street ultimately. They decide when to go ahead and the numbers," a spokeswoman said.

A spokesman for Lord Williams said: "The general view is that we have too many life peers and we are looking at methods of reducing them."