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A committee of MPs has complained that they are not being given enough time to scrutinise proposed changes to the voting system in the UK.
The government published the parliamentary voting system and constituencies bill and the fixed-term parliaments bill on July 22, just before MPs broke up for the summer.
Both bills are set to receive their second reading when the Commons returns from recess in September.
The chair of the Commons political and constitutional reform committee, Graham Allen, has complained about the timescale.
"We regret that the government's timetable has denied us an adequate opportunity to scrutinise the bill before second reading," he said.
In a letter to deputy prime minister Nick Clegg, Allen said that plans for Lords reform will "be subject to full pre-legislative scrutiny by a joint select committee over several months before a bill is formally presented to parliament".
"On what principle can you justify this different treatment of legislation affecting the two Houses?"
Allen said the legislative timetable has put the committee "in an extremely difficult position".
In his response, Clegg said the bills will "strengthen parliament's power over the executive, but also confer new powers on parliament in respect of dissolution".
"These issues are fundamental to this House and to our democracy," he wrote.
"I look forward to the process of scrutiny and debate over the coming months."
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