Lords reform: Nick Clegg tells Tories to 'stick to the deal' Nick Clegg: delivering House of Lords reform was part of the 'obligations' between the two parties that must be met. Nick Clegg has made clear he expects Conservative colleagues to "stick to the deal" in the coalition agreement, following a bruising vote on House of Lords reform on Tuesday night. It was left to Simon Hughes, the Liberal Democrats deputy leader, to resurrect the explicit warning of a senior Lib Dem aide last week that there would be "consequences" if the Tories broke their side of the bargain. Clegg's hopes of reforming the Lords ran into trouble on Tuesday when the government was forced to withdraw a "programme motion" that would have set a timetable for the Lords reform bill, to avert defeat in the face of an alliance of Labour MPs and Tory rebels. The government then suffered its biggest Tory rebellion to date, in which one ministerial aide was sacked and one resigned as they joined colleagues to defy a three-line whip to vote against the second reading of the Lords reform bill. The revolt prompted a furious David Cameron to confront the rebel leader Jesse Norman outside the House of Commons division lobbies. With Tuesday night's events promising a rocky path for the legislation, the deputy prime minister signalled it was up to the Tory leadership to ensure the reforms went ahead. Clegg said after the bill passed its second reading that it was a "triumph" for the Lib Dems, who have long campaigned for reform of the Lords. But speaking on Wednesday, he appeared to be in more sober mood as he told Sky News that delivering the reform was part of the "obligations" between the two parties that must be met. "It's like a contract that any two people sign in everyday life," he said. You sign a piece of paper, like a contract, and say these are things we're going to do, these are the obligations we made to each other and a deal's a deal. It's important you stick to that deal and you stick to the contract, if you like, that you have entered into and I think it is important - not least because so far both parties have stuck to that deal very effectively - that we continue to do so. That's why it is important we deliver House of Lords reform, because it's in the coalition agreement. Hughes said Cameron must find a way to take the legislation forward - and he warned there would be "consequences" for the coalition if he failed to do so. The deputy party leader's comments echo those of Richard Reeves, who stood down last week as Clegg's director of strategy and suggested that Lib Dems would retaliate by blocking other constitutional measures if the prime minister failed to persuade Tory MPs to support Lords reform. "The prime minister clearly has to work out how he can deliver his side of the coalition bargain," Hughes told the BBC Radio 4 Today programme. We have delivered every element of the coalition agreement. We have delivered our people through the voting lobbies in every case. We are clear you can't have a deal that is broken by one side without consequences. There would be consequences if they broke it. He made clear the Lib Dems were prepared to block planned changes to parliamentary boundaries to shrink the House of Commons from 650 to 600 MPs, a reform that could give the Tories a net increase of up to 24 seats. "The one thing that is obvious that the Tories desperately want is the boundary commission proposals to go through, which is an advantage to them," he said. We signed up to a deal and we have honoured our deal, they have to honour their deal. It is a matter for them how they now do it. Theresa May, a Conservative member of the cabinet, adopted a more upbeat tone, saying there was "no doubt" the Commons had voted for Lords reform, which would "finish the job that first started 100 years ago." She appeared relaxed about the coalition, despite Lib Dem anger over the bill's troubled start. May told ITV1 Daybreak: "I'm not worried about the coalition because I work in the coalition day to day and we work together and we're putting through, crucially, a huge amount of reform but also, crucially, doing the job together in terms of dealing with the deficit. We came together in the national interest after the general election to deal with the deficit. We're doing that. We're also putting through a lot of reform. There's going to be a statement today by Andrew Lansley on social care reform, welfare reform, all of these areas. We also agreed we would bring proposals forward on House of Lords reform. We've done that. MPs have voted overwhelmingly in favour, from across all parties. We will now take that forward. What I'm disappointed in is that Labour weren't willing to support this procedural issue, which is how much time we give to debate. She added a programme motion would be put to the vote in the autumn. The Conservatives want consensus on the bill, she said, and would be discussing the matter over the summer. She said: "It's a longstanding tradition in the House of Commons that if somebody doesn't support the government and has a position that they do lose that position. What we're going to do now in terms of Lords reform is take it forward. We've had a clear vote that the Commons view is that there should be legislation for House of Lords reform. That's absolutely clear. We'll take it forward and we'll look at the timetable and obviously we'll be talking over the summer. We want consensus on this.