David Cameron and Nick Clegg have been warned that the coalition's plans for an elected House of Lords would be "vigorously contested" by MPs and peers.
Mr Clegg, the Deputy Prime Minister, insisted on Monday night that the Government would get the proposals onto the statute book, using the Parliament Act to override the Lords if necessary. But backbench Tory MP Jesse Norman said the legislation, to be brought forward in the next parliamentary session, would face strong opposition in the Commons as well as the Lords.
The MP for Hereford and South Herefordshire urged that introducing an elected Lords - possibly renamed the Senate or Assembly - should not be a priority when the coalition was tackling the worst economic crisis for 70 years.
Conservative peer Lord Dobbs, a former deputy chairman of the Conservative Party, pointed out that the coalition agreement committed the Government only to establishing a committee bringing forward proposals on Lords reform.
Lord Dobbs said he wanted to see the precise proposals before deciding how to react to the draft Bill on Lords reform, but warned: "Some of my fellow peers have threatened to become unwavering rebels and wreck the government's legislative programme if the threatened miserable mess of potage is served up in the Queen's Speech."
Mr Clegg, the Liberal Democrat leader in charge of Lords reform, is also facing a rebellion on his own benches in the Upper House. Lord Lee, a Lib Dem whip in the Lords, warned of a "long, bitter and bloody battle" over plans to introducing elections.
He told the Financial Times: "There is absolutely no public demand for this at all and pretty much zero support from serious political commentators."
Mr Clegg insisted that plans to overhaul the Lords, including elections for at least 80% of its members, were a "clear ambition" for the Government. He indicated that MPs would be whipped to support the legislation like "any other Government business" and cited the Prime Minister's support for using the Parliament Act to force it past the Lords.
Asked whether there would be a three-line whip to get the Bill through, he said: "Well, as the Prime Minister has confirmed, this is Government business and will be treated like any other Government business."
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A draft Bill published last year proposes reducing membership of the second chamber to 300, with each allowed to sit for a single term of three five-year parliaments. Either 80% or 100% would be elected using the single transferable vote. The first elections would take place in 2015 but with the full transition staggered over three electoral cycles.
