Lords reform: David Cameron defies threat of Tory revolt David Cameron has given his strong backing to reform of the House of Lords despite Tory predictions of ministerial resignations and a large-scale rebellion over the plans. Nick Clegg, the Liberal Democrat deputy prime minister, published the House of Lords Reform bill, which proposes to reduce the number of peers from 826 to 450, 80% (360) of whom will be elected. The remaining 20%, representing 90 members, would be appointed by a statutory appointments commission on a non-party basis. Under the bill, members of the reformed house would only be allowed to serve for one 15-year term. Clegg said the bill presented the best chance in 100 years to create a democratic second chamber, but he faces ambivalence from Conservative whips and demands from Labour for more time to debate the 60-clause bill. Cameron earlier on Wednesday lent his weight to the reforms as he told MPs at prime minister's question time that "it really is time to progress." He said: "We have been discussing this issue for 100 years and it really is time to make progress. The truth of the matter is ... there are opponents of Lords reform in every party. But there is a majority in this house for a mainly elected House of Lords and I believe there's a majority for that in the country. But if those who support Lords reform don't get out there and back it, it won't happen. That is the crucial point. The prime minister made his comments as ministerial aide Conor Burns became the first government backbencher to indicate he intended to vote against the programme motion, which sets out the timetable for the Commons debate on the bill. The shadow cabinet has said it would support the bill when it receives its two-day second reading in the Commons, which is likely to be at the beginning of July, but said it would not support the motion that would speed up the passage of the bill through the Commons. The prime minister branded Labour's position as "hopeless," after being pressed by Conservative MP Helen Grant, on whether he agreed it was "stupid" to vote for Lords reform, but against the timetable motion. Labour has promised to support the bill itself but is threatening to derail the procedure motion, which sets out the time it gets to be debated in parliament. Cameron referred to the Labour leader, Ed Miliband, saying: "It's absolutely hopeless in life and in politics to do what the right honourable gentleman is doing, which is to say he's in favour of it, and he's also against it. It's hopeless. The coalition government is braced for a widespread revolt over the proposals, with Cameron put on notice about the strength of feeling in his own party ranks after Burns became the first ministerial aide to signal he was prepared to resign over the reform. Speaking ahead of the bill's publication, Burns challenged the amount of time for debate for a major constitutional reform, saying it should be "at length and in full." "So on that basis, I would certainly be attracted to voting against any programme motion that would constrain the amount of time parliament can debate this for," he said. Eleanor Laing, a Tory backbencher, warned that the majority of the Conservative party not bound by ministerial office to support the government opposed this type of reform of the second chamber. But the justice secretary, Ken Clarke, said it would be a "terrible mistake" if Tory backbenchers decided to "lark about and upset the Liberals" by disrupting the government's programme. He told BBC Radio 4's World at One programme: "As a party member, to show your commitment by actually wrecking the government's legislative programme, which is actually what they would do - I think that is pretty bizarre." "It's bound to be a compromise," he added. The problem is there isn't a solid majority on almost any detail - bishops, electoral system. Conservative MP Jesse Norman, who is campaigning against the reforms, said the bill was a "total nonsense." He told the programme he would "absolutely without any question" vote against it and the government's timetable. "It is a constitutional monstrosity of a bill," he added. Under the terms of the bill, elections for the second chamber would be held alongside general elections, starting in 2015. A form of proportional representation known as a "semi-open list system" will be used, where voters can opt to vote either for a political party or an individual candidate in their region. In a move that has angered many supporters of reform, they will be joined by 12 Church of England bishops - down from 26 church representatives. To deal with opponents' claims that an elected second chamber would undermine democracy, the bill also includes a specific commitment to retain the Parliament Acts of 1911 and 1949. They allow for the Commons to overrule the Lords in certain circumstances to force through measures. The government has threatened to invoke them to push through Lords reform. The £300-a-day maximum pay limit desired by the government is not set down in the bill - which says only that elected Lords members must not earn more in a year than an MP. Publishing the proposals, Clegg said: The coalition stands on the brink of a historic achievement. After more than a hundred years of debates, cross-party talks, green papers, white papers, command papers and a royal commission, we are finally introducing a bill to create a democratic and legitimate House of Lords. It cannot be right that ordinary, hard-working people are expected to obey laws that are created by people appointed entirely by birth or patronage, who have a generous pay packet and a job for life. The time for idle talk is finished. Now is the time for action.