British members of parliament (MPs) voted on Wednesday to reform the upper chamber of parliament, the House of Lords, to make it fully elected for the first time in its 600-year existence.
Members of the lower House of Commons voted by a margin of 113 votes for what would constitute a complete overhaul of the House of Lords and pave the way for one of Britain's most radical constitutional changes.
The vote, which passed 337 to 224, will not pass into law, but the result is expected to inform government thinking when it draws up legislation for reform later this year.
MPs also voted by a majority of 280 to remove the remaining hereditary peers from the House of Lords. Hereditary peers survived British Prime Minister Tony Blair's first attempt to reform the chamber in 1999.
Commons leader Jack Straw presented MPs with a total of nine options by the government, all of which they could back or reject.
Among the options rejected were completely abolishing the second chamber; a fully-appointed Lords; and partially elected options at 20, 40, 50 and 60 percent.
They did back a proposal for an 80 percent elected House of Lords but by a margin of only 38 votes -- significantly smaller than the vote backing a totally elected chamber.
Blair's government had favored a 50 percent elected chamber. Blair himself voted in favor of a 50-50 split between elected and appointed peers [members of the House of Lords] but did not take part in the other votes, his office said.
A previous vote on reforming the House of Lords in 2003 ended in stalemate after lawmakers rejected all the options on offer. Blair backed keeping a wholly appointed second chamber.
A police probe was launched last year into whether Blair's Labour and other parties illegally offered seats in the Lords in return for financial donations -- the "cash for honors" row which is plaguing his last weeks in power.
Straw said Wednesday's vote was a "historic step forward on an issue which has been a matter of debate for decades" which could transform the Lords into a more dynamic and active law-making body.
The Lords itself will vote on the issue next week, he added. The government will then consider its next move in discussion with all parties.
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