As you know, an elected House of Lords was part of the Coalition Agreement: a fundamental part of the contract that keeps the coalition parties working together in the national interest.
A contract not just to each other, but a set of commitments we have made, collectively, to the British people.
Contract
My party has held to that contract even when it meant voting for things that we found difficult. The Liberal Democrats are proving ourselves to be a mature and competent party of Government and I am proud that we have met our obligations.
But the Conservative party is not honoring the commitment to Lords reform and, as a result, part of our contract has now been broken.
Clearly I cannot permit a situation where Conservative rebels can pick and choose the parts of the contract they like, while Liberal Democrat MPs are bound to the entire agreement.
Coalition works on mutual respect; it is a reciprocal arrangement, a two-way street. So I have told the Prime Minister that when, in due course, parliament votes on boundary changes for the 2015 election I will be instructing my party to oppose them.
When part of a contract is broken, it is normal to amend that contract in order then to move on.
Lords reform and boundaries are two, separate parliamentary bills but they are both part of a package of overall political reform. Delivering one but not the other would create an imbalance - not just in the Coalition Agreement, but also in our political system.
Lords reform leads to a smaller, more legitimate House of Lords. Boundary changes lead to a smaller House of Commons, by cutting the number of MPs. If you cut the number of MPs without enhancing the legitimacy and effectiveness of the Lords all you have done is weaken parliament as a whole, strengthen the executive and its over-mighty government that wins.
'Pause button'
So, for these reasons, I have decided, reluctantly to push the pause button on these controversial parliamentary reforms.
Throughout this process my aim has always been too honor the Coalition Agreement in full - no more, no less. I stood ready - and stand ready - to deliver reforms that are controversial for my party because that is part of a wider, reciprocal arrangement.
That is why, for instance, in a last ditch attempt to keep both sides of the bargain intact, I suggested a solution that would have allowed us to progress with both reforms: a referendum on Lords Reform on election day in 2015, with first elections to the Lords taking place in 2020, while deferring boundary changes to 2020 too.
That would have been in keeping with the Coalition Agreement - in which neither policy had a set timetable. But this offer was not accepted.
So we must now restore balance to the Coalition Agreement, allowing us to draw a line under these events and get on with the rest of our Program for Government.
My Liberal Democrat colleagues and I remain focused on the urgent task that brought the Coalition together: rescuing, repairing and rebalancing our economy.
And, just as we are determined that this Government delivers economic reform, we are determined to deliver social renewal too.
There are many things that brought me into politics. Many things which animate my party: political reform is one. A fairer tax system is another. Internationalism. The environment. Civil liberties.
But the thing I care about most - the central purpose of the Liberal Democrats in this government - is to build a fairer society. A more socially mobile society, where a person's opportunities do not depend on the circumstances of their birth, where every individual has the chance to flourish.
We will continue with that critical work. We will continue to anchor this government firmly in the center ground.
