And Labour former Cabinet minister David Blunkett expressed concerns that the new government had made announcements outside the Commons on changing the voting system, Lords reform, spending cuts and the mechanism for dissolving Parliament.
Meanwhile, Deputy Prime Minister Nick Clegg prompted widespread derision from the opposition benches as he declined to rule out taking a seat in the House of Lords under an appointed system, were his planned reforms to fail.
First, we propose that the House of Commons - and then subsequently the House of Lords - move from the old system of self-regulation to independent, statutory regulation.