Nick Clegg pushes PM to back Lib Dems on House of Lords reform Published on Monday 23 April 2012 00:00 NICK Clegg has delivered a thinly-veiled warning to David Cameron that he must face down a major Conservative rebellion over Lords reform. The Deputy Prime Minister pointed out that he had asked Liberal Democrats to support coalition measures they did not like, and others should act in the same "spirit." However, he also hinted at possible concessions to placate opponents - even avoiding ruling out a referendum. The comments came amid reports that at least six ministers would prefer to see the changes delayed. Philip Hammond, Iain Duncan Smith, Michael Gove, Eric Pickles, Owen Paterson and Lord Strathclyde are said to be among senior Conservatives who have voiced doubts. The party's backbenchers are also threatening a mass revolt on the issue. Earlier, Justice Secretary Ken Clarke - an ardent backer of Lords reform - had admitted that a purely Tory government would not be pushing it through in this parliament. But Mr Clegg cautioned against a situation where the parties began blocking each others" favoured policies. He said: "I think one of the great things about this coalition, despite a lot of pressure to do otherwise, is that we haven't indulged in sort of tit-for-tat selective choice about which bit of the coalition agreement we are going to support or not. We all entered into this government knowing first of all that no-one had won a majority ... and secondly that we had a clear programme of reform we wanted to introduce and we back them. I have asked Liberal Democrat MPs and peers to back a number of things - the NHS Bill, other things - that they didn't like at all. But I did it because it was in the spirit of the coalition, and I would ask all people from all sides of the coalition government to continue to govern in that spirit because it is what I think the British people want. Mr Clegg said he thought the principle that people who made law should be elected was "uncontroversial" for the public. It is something we have been talking about for 100 years, and I think we should just get on with it now with minimum fuss. The Lib Dem leader dismissed the argument that Lords reform should not be at a priority when the country was enduring austerity. He said: "Our priority of course remains rescuing, repairing and reforming the British economy. It doesn't mean we cannot do other things, like introduce a smidgen of democracy to the House of Lords. Mr Clegg made clear his opposition to holding a referendum - a key demand by many Tory critics of reform. But he stopped short of ruling out a vote, saying: "I think the people who want to advocate a referendum, it is for them to explain why we should spend millions of pounds of taxpayers" money on this and why we should create the monumental distraction of a referendum on an issue where all the parties agree and where our central focus remains sorting out the economic mess we inherited."