From Nick Clegg to Chris Huhne

Dear Chris

Thank you for your letter.

I am immensely grateful for the huge contribution you have made to the
government over the past 18 months; both in the trailblazing work you have
undertaken as Energy and Climate Change Secretary and in your wider role in
government as a key architect of the coalition.

You have shown real leadership in your time at DECC, driving forward a key
part of the government's agenda tackling the challenges of climate change and
driving green growth and jobs. The Green Deal and other major initiatives that
you pioneered will deliver major dividends to the public while marking a major
step change in the UK's approach to the environment.

I fully understand your decision to stand down from government in order to
clear your name but I hope you will be able to do so rapidly so that you can
return to play a key role in government as soon as possible.

Best wishes,

Nick Clegg

From Chris Huhne to Nick Clegg
Dear Nick

I am writing to resign, with great regret, as Energy and Climate Change
Secretary. I will defend myself robustly in the courts against the charges that
the Crown Prosecution Service has decided to press. I have concluded that it
would be distracting both to my trial defence and to my official duties if I were
to continue in office as a minister.

It has been a privilege to serve with you in the first group of Liberal
ministers in a British government since 1945. As Liberal Democrats in
government, we have put the national interest first. When we negotiated the
coalition agreement, Greece had been hit by financial crisis. Since then,
Portugal, Ireland, Spain and Italy have all been hit, vindicating our decision to
tackle our own bigger budget deficit. We have had an essential role in ensuring
that those decisions are fair. Our decisions are putting in place the foundations
for a long-lasting recovery, a rebalancing of the economy, and durable jobs.

Our role in the coalition has ensured that growth in the green economy -
already accounting for more than a million jobs - will be a large part of the
solution. We have legislated in the first Energy Act 2011 for the pioneering
pay-as-you-save Green Deal which will revolutionise our energy saving efforts,
provide jobs across the country, and save householders money. The white paper
on Electricity Market Reform has mapped out a new policy to encourage the
billions of investment that we need in all three families of low carbon electricity
generation - renewables, nuclear and clean coal and gas. The Green Investment
Bank will support this goal, and this will also create new industries in which the
UK will have a head start.

We have put consumers' interests - today and in the long term - at the
heart of our policy, encouraging more competitors in the electricity and gas
markets, working with Ofgem to simplify the confusion of tariffs, and getting
tough on abuses.

I am proud that the UK has played a leading role in the revival of
international climate change talks through the United Nations at Cancun and
Durban. Climate change is an area where working with our European partners
can help us to achieve national goals which would be out of reach if we were
isolated and alone.

The Liberal Democrats under your leadership are playing an essential role
in ensuring that the coalition government reflects liberal values at home and
abroad. I have been proud to help put our commitments to freedom, fairness and
the environment into practice, and to demonstrate once again that liberalism is
alive and well in the country of its birth.

Best Wishes,

Chris Huhne