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.
In the coming weeks The Economist will set out its own views on how to reform not just the electoral system but also the House of Lords, party funding and other bits of the political structure.
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.