THE House of Lords will be reduced in size by more than a third, life peerages will be abolished and the number of women and ethnic minorities substantially increased, under a leaked government blueprint for reform.

The plan, drawn up by Jack Straw, the Commons leader, also proposes that half the peers should be elected and half appointed, a composition that Tony Blair has in the past opposed.

It would see peers allowed to sit in the Lords for no more than three parliamentary terms — normally about 12 years.

The system in which lords claim allowances for attending would also be swept away.

Instead, they would be paid a salary and expected to work full-time, a change that could treble the current cost of £13m to the taxpayer despite the reduction in the number of lords.

The plan for an equal mix of elected and appointed members is seen as potentially the most significant breakthrough in efforts to reach all-party agreement.

After years of deadlock on Lords reform, a consensus is said to be so imminent that the proposals are expected to be put to a free vote in the Commons after Christmas, with the first elections and appointments to the new upper house taking place at the next general election.

The Tories and Liberal Democrats are holding out for a bigger proportion to be elected. They remain concerned that following the loans for honours scandal, Labour plans to retain the power to make some political appointments.

One Lib Dem peer close to the negotiations said: “The Lords reform logjam is breaking up. You can really feel the earth move when even Jack Straw, a hardcore constitutional conservative, is backing a 50% elected House of Lords. This must be the best chance of reform for a century.”

Details of the proposed reforms are outlined in an 18-page memo presented by Straw to a meeting of the cross-party working group on Lords reform on October 12. The document will form the basis of a white paper to be published by Straw next month.

Under the proposals, the Lords would be reduced in size from 741 members to about 450. Combined with the Commons, it would still mean that parliament was twice as large as the 535-strong US Senate and House of Representatives.

No single party would be allowed to command an overall majority, no matter how big its majority in the Commons.

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