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Warsi and Ashdown in House of Lords dispute

Conservative co-chair Baroness Warsi agreed with Defence Secretary Philip Hammond that Lords reform would proceed, but said it was not the Government's priority.

Speaking to the Murnaghan programme on Sky News, she said:

Do I feel House of Lords reform is an absolute priority right now? No I don't.

I feel getting the deficit down, getting the nation's finances stabilised, getting the country growing again is the most important thing we should be focusing on.

– Conservative co-chair Baroness Warsi

However former Lib Dem leader Lord Ashdown insisted it must be a priority for the Government. He told the Murnaghan programme:

Baroness Warsi is just wrong when she says this is not a priority.

We are almost the only country in the world which has an appointed second chamber rather than an elected one - by the way the company we keep includes Belarus, Bahrain, Yemen.

– Former Liberal Democrat leader Lord Ashdown