Mr Clegg described the claim as “complete nonsense”. He added: “Of course the costs need to be kept down. I would say the rival challenge for those who want to defend the status quo is how on earth can one justify a House of Lords, unelected, accountable to nobody, that would soon comprise about 1,000 members. Only the Chinese People’s Congress is larger than that, and they [peers] can turn up and see £300 tax-free simply for ticking a box.”