Ministers are determined to drive through reforms to the Lords well before the end of this parliament, the lord chancellor has said.

The Conservatives accused Tony Blair on Wednesday of wanting to "disable" the upper house.

And a potentially serious confrontation is likely between the peers and government over the plans to change the Lords' powers and composition.

Lord Falconer outlined three elements of reform.  First, a joint committee of MPs and peers would try to codify the unwritten conventions that govern the Lords, such as the principle that the upper house does not vote down a government's manifesto pledges.

Second, the government plans to limit the amount of time that bills could spend in the Lords, probably to 60 days.

Third, MPs would be given a free vote on the composition of the Lords after the remaining hereditary peers had been evicted.