Peers divided over Clegg's plans for an elected Senate

Nick Clegg today faced a rift among Liberal Democrat peers over plans for an elected Senate to replace the Lords.

The Deputy Prime Minister is championing reforms to the Upper Chamber but a poll today showed that his peers are deeply divided over the plans.

Just over half say that the Lords should be wholly or mainly elected, but 46 per cent disagree. Two thirds believe that the Upper Chamber works well, with only a third saying it does not, said the survey of more than 300 peers by The Times.

About 80 per cent oppose introducing a wholly or mainly elected upper chamber, even though the policy was in the manifestos of all three major parties.

Nearly three quarters believe it would be unconstitutional to use the rare mechanism of the Parliament Act to push through the proposals.
The Coalition has pledged to create an elected Lords by 2015, threatening to use the Act that allows MPs to pass legislation without peers' consent.