Ministers "shelve plan to curb House of Lords' power"

Downing Street source says "the world has changed" since peers inflicted government defeat on tax credit cuts


By John Ashmore

17 Nov 2016

The Conservatives have reportedly decided not to go ahead with plans to curtail the powers of the House of Lords.

The government came up with measures to water down peers' power to veto secondary legislation after a defeat on tax credit cuts. 

The proposal, part of a review from former Lords leader Lord Strathclyde, was heavily criticised when it first appeared almost a year ago. 

A Downing Street source told the BBC the plan had now been "dumped" because "the world has changed".

A Number 10 spokesman would not comment, saying only that "we will publish our response in due course". 

Labour's leader in the Lords, Baroness Smith, said the apparent climbdown showed that "the Strathclyde review was an absurd overreaction to a sensible and principled challenge on tax credits".

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