British police consider probe into peers

British police are reviewing material related to allegations that four members of the House of Lords offered to change laws in exchange for cash, House Leader Janet Royall said yesterday.

Ms Royall stressed that the police "are not investigating the matter at this stage", but were responding to a request from the Liberal Democrat Party to consider starting a probe if there was sufficient evidence.

"The police are reviewing the material in relation to the allegations to decide whether such an investigation would be appropriate," Ms Royall said in a statement.

The police said in a statement that Assistant Commissioner John Yates has met with Ms Royall to "inform her of the position".

Commissioner Yates led the investigation into the so-called "cash for honours" inquiry that overshadowed the end of Tony Blair's premiership.

On that occasion the Labour government was accused of soliciting loans from wealthy supporters in return for peerages. But prosecutors announced in July 2007 that no one would face any charges.

Four Labour peers were accused this week by the Sunday Times newspaper of offering to amend laws in return for as much as £120,000, putting the reputation of the House as an independent revising chamber on the line.

Reporters from the newspaper posed as lobbyists representing a fake Hong Kong businessman who wanted a tax law altered.

The affair has sent tremors through the Lords. Ms Royall said on Monday that the rules on punishment for errant peers were not tough enough and ordered a review.

A common depiction of the Lords is of old men, barely awake, slumped on the plush red benches of the gilded chamber as the nation's laws meander through, but recent changes to its composition have made it more combative, say experts.

"The House of Lords is becoming more significant in terms of its influence on legislation. It's not completely (hereditary) peers now, so they are appointed and you've got a greater sense of legitimacy," said Steven Fielding, director of the Centre for British Politics.

"So they are more confident when they stand up to the Commons and they are doing it more regularly."

One such example came last October when peers quashed a government attempt to extend the time limit on which terror suspects could be detained without charge to 42 days from the current 28 days.