FORMAL cross-party talks on the future of the House of Lords will begin in May with MPs voting on the election of peers before the end of the year.

Opposition parties told The Times yesterday that they had agreed to start discussions with the Government after the Easter break and would draw up their proposals for the composition and powers of the second chamber in the next few weeks.

However, a consensus has already begun to emerge on what a reformed second chamber may look like, with many senior Labour, Conservative and Liberal Democrat figures agreeing yesterday that about 70 per cent of peers should be elected.

Lord Falconer of Thoroton, the Lord Chancellor, who will lead the cross-party talks, said that he favoured a partially elected House and sources close to Tony Blair said that the Prime Minister took the same view.

Kenneth Clarke, the former Chancellor and head of David Cameron’s democracy task force, said that he favoured a “largely elected house” and the Liberal Democrats agreed.

Simon Hughes, the constitutional affairs spokesman, said: “Liberal Democrats have long believed that there should be a predominantly elected House of Lords, and that a second chamber must have adequate powers and responsibilities.”

A joint committee of both houses will be appointed shortly to examine conventions on the relationship between the Commons and the Lords.

In particular it will look at whether the Salisbury convention, which prevents peers from blocking the Government’s manifesto commitments, should be made statutory.

The findings of the joint committee will feed into the cross- party talks on the future of the Lords. Previously, talks on reform stalled because the Conservatives refused to discuss reducing the powers of the Lords until the Government agreed to consider seriously the election of peers.

But Mr Blair revealed last weekend that he was no longer opposed to elected peers and wanted to see Parliament reach a decision on the future of the Lords shortly. He had previously supported an appointed chamber and was happy to use divisions among MPs about a way forward to hold up further reforms.

Lord Falconer denied that the Government’s new enthusiasm to complete Lords reform was to divert attention from the row over party funding, which he admitted was a “scandal”. He said: “Let’s see if we can make progress. I think there is a strong feeling, and it’s been there for some time, that we should try to address the issue.

“Some weeks before any suggestion of the loans scandal, I was saying the same things that I am saying now, and saying them on behalf of the Government.

“We were saying it not as a smokescreen but because it is a very important issue.

“My view is that there should be a substantial elected element. I don’t want to talk about the precise percentage.”

Although the opposition parties said that they were enthusiastic about the new talks, not all MPs believed that the Government will really see the reforms through.

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