Lord Archer and the remaining 92 hereditary peers are to be removed from parliament, it has been announced.

The government is to remove birthright peers from the House of Lords and establish an independent appointments commission.

Further changes to be introduced include measures to expel peers jailed for more than 12 months - a move which will see Jeffrey Archer stripped of his peerage.

In future peers will also be allowed to resign and retire from the second chamber.

But the government has angered constitutional reformers by stepping back from radical reform and democratisation of the second chamber.

Wider reforms have been kicked into the long grass and will now be subject to further consultation.

"Nothing in these proposals relate to the powers of the House. We are not proposing any extension of the role of the second chamber," said constitutional affairs secretary Lord Falconer.

"The House of Commons should and must remain pre-eminent in our constitutional arrangements."

"These changes amount to a substantial set of reforms to the House.

"When added to our previously announced decisions to set up a separate supreme court, and to remove the office of lord chancellor, thus leading to reform of the office of speaker, they will create a House that is significantly different from that which presently exists."

Falconer said the government had never intended for the hereditary principle to remain in place forever.

"When the interim arrangement was reached, we accepted the argument that the presence of the remaining hereditary peers would act as an incentive to further reform," he told peers.

"This has not happened; there is clearly no consensus in parliament on the way forward.

"The circumstances which gave rise to the original arrangement over the remaining hereditary peers no longer apply.

"So the government must act, and act decisively, to bring about stability and sustainability."

The constitutional affairs minister confirmed that a statutory appointments commission will be established to select and oversee appointments to the House of Lords.

It will decide on the number and timing of new appointments to the House; nominate the non-party peers and vet the nominations for party peers for propriety.

Falconer claimed the change amounted to "a massive and voluntary diminution in the prime minister's influence" over the membership of the House of Lords.

"This will build on the present non-statutory appointments commission, which itself represented a significant voluntary relinquishing by the prime minister of his powers of patronage," he added.

But reform campaigners have said they want to see radical proposals from ministers.

Charter88 warned that a system of appointment could lead to cronyism despite the new commission.

"The government say they want to listen but refuses to hear the majority of MPs and the public who want a majority elected second chamber," said director Karen Bartlett.

"Tony Blair preaches democracy abroad and yet fails to practice it at home. Ironically, the government seems to think that the people can't be trusted."