Queen ends birthright vote tradition

Rows of lords in ermine-collared scarlet robes broke with another tradition after the announcement, when instead of listening to the monarch in silence they let out muted growls.

Elected lawmakers of the House of Commons who clustered behind the Lords chamber also violated the tradition with occasional cheers.

AP PHOTO Britain's Queen Elizabeth II addresses the house of Parliament yesterday. Ending six centuries of tradition, the queen announced the Labor Party plans to strip hereditary peers of their right to vote in the legislature.

The move is part of a legislative program for the coming year that the queen, reading out a speech written by Prime Minister Tony Blair's Labor government, described as focusing "upon the modernization of the country."

Well, a bit of modernization.

With Her Majesty's assent, for example, the Lord Chancellor - the country's chief judicial officer - turned his back on the queen and walked away after handing her the government's speech, instead of shuffling backward. And a handful of quaintly named officials, such as Silver Stick in Waiting and Maltravers Herald Extraordinary, were absent.

But much of the elaborate show was right on track.

The queen rode from Buckingham Palace with her husband, Prince Philip, in a horse-drawn carriage escorted by a cavalry regiment in scarlet gold tunics astride magnificent horses.

An official called Black Rod, in knee breeches and stockings, summoned the commoners to the chamber to hear the queen. And even though the Lord Chancellor thought it all right to turn his back, others inched backward ahead of the queen.

The legislative program she read out - the second since Labor swept the long-ruling Conservative Party from office 19 months ago - also included a shakeup of welfare benefits designed to make things tougher for the work-shy, a reform of legal funding and greater protection for rape victims.

But one item promises to provoke the most debate.

"A bill will be introduced to remove the right of hereditary peers to sit and vote in the House of Lords," the queen intoned. "It will be the first stage of a process of reform to make the House of Lords more democratic and representative."

The House of Lords, which revises and examines government legislation, is composed of lords who inherited their titles, and life peers, who are awarded titles.

The elected House of Commons has the power to pass legislation even if the House of Lords rejects it, but the nobles can stretch out the process, stalling bills for months.

Critics charge that Blair is wrong to remove the often independent-minded blue bloods before setting up a new arrangement. A commission is due to report within two years on a new version of the chamber.

"He wants to create a House of Cronies, beholden to him alone," Conservative Party leader William Hague jeered at Blair in the Commons later yesterday.

Some blue bloods prepared for a filibuster in the chamber, which could delay the legislation for up to a year.

"It is exceedingly easy to bung up the system," said the Earl of Onslow, whose family motto is "Quick without Impetuosity."

"I am happy to go to this sort of extent and length to make sure that what comes after me is better and can act as a check," he said.

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