The House of Lords inflicted repeated defeats on the previous government but the scale of Boris Johnson’s election victory has transformed politics. 

Legislation to ensure the country leaves the EU on January 31 is expected to clear the Commons this week and then go for scrutiny in the Upper House. 

The Conservatives do not have a majority in the Lords but peers recognise the scale of the Tory success makes it politically impossible to try to sabotage Brexit. 

Any attempt to derail Britain’s departure would boost calls for abolishing the Second Chamber. 

Convention dictates that pledges made in manifestos will not be wrecked by the Lords. 

A Labour source admitted that the scale of the Conservative mandate made it “difficult to change anything substantially”. 

Last month, former deputy prime minister Lord Heseltine, a leading pro-European, admitted that the Remain side had “lost” and “Brexit is going to happen”. 

Lord German, a Lib Dem peer, expects there will be attempts to amend the legislation, but not to block it entirely. Peers may launch a bid to ensure Parliament has a say on whether trade negotiations with the EU should continue beyond the end of this year. 

The Withdrawal Agreement Bill is due to clear the Lords by January 22, ahead of a vote in the European Parliament a week later. 

Lord German said: “I don’t think there will be a ‘stop Brexit’ amendment. I’m pretty certain that won’t happen.” 

While he did not think the Lords would make “huge dents” in the Bill he suspected they would make changes the “Government may be well advised to accept”. 

Lord German said Remainer Lords were “depressed” and criticised a system that delivered Mr Johnson his majority, saying it means the “largest minority is the one which takes all the power”. 

Downing Street is determined there will be “no complacency” when newly elected MPs return to Parliament after the Christmas break, insisting that the “safe passage” of the Withdrawal Agreement Bill will be a priority. 

Ursula von der Leyen, the new president of the European Commission, is due to meet Mr Johnson in No 10 this week. She wants him to reconsider his refusal to extend negotiations on the UK’s future relationship with the EU beyond the end of this year. 

Taskforce Europe, which is replacing the Department for Exiting the European Union, will finalise Britain’s negotiating position ahead of the first meetings with the commission. 

A Government source said we could do so much more, “starting with the Brexit Bill, but followed closely by a raft of other really important measures”. 

They said: “We asked the public to vote for us so we could unblock Parliament – we will now demonstrate we’re able to do that with new legislation that will make a real difference to people’s lives.”

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