Labour to force binding vote to stop Government blocking debate of Parliamentary Constituencies (Amendment) Bill

Monday, 18 June 2018 17:13

Labour will tomorrow (Tuesday) force a binding vote in the House of Commons which will force the Government to allow the Parliamentary Constituencies (Amendment) Bill to be debated in Committee. In another example of the broken system for Private Members Bills, the Government has been using a procedural device to block the clear will of the House of Commons and prevent the Bill having its detailed line by line scrutiny in Committee. Despite the fact that the bill passed...Request free trial

Labour will tomorrow (Tuesday) force a binding vote in the House of Commons which will force the Government to allow the Parliamentary Constituencies (Amendment) Bill to be debated in Committee.

In another example of the broken system for Private Members Bills, the Government has been using a procedural device to block the clear will of the House of Commons and prevent the Bill having its detailed line by line scrutiny in Committee.

Despite the fact that the bill passed its Second Reading unanimously on Friday 1 December 2017, the Government have taken the highly unusual step of refusing to table a Money resolution which is usually required for the Bill to be debated in Committee.

This issue has been subject to an Urgent Question and an emergency debate, with many Tory backbenchers calling on the Government to bring forward a money resolution so that the Bill can be debated.

Speaking ahead of the debate Valerie Vaz MP, Labour’s Shadow Leader of the House, said:

“It’s clear the system for Private Members Bills is broken. The public won’t understand why a Bill that commands unanimous support across the elected House can be blocked by the Government through procedural wheezes.

“This Bill would keep the number of MPs at 650 while equalising constituency sizes in a way that allows boundaries to take into account community ties.

“After Brexit it is clear that Theresa May plans to strengthen the power of the executive, at the expense of backbenchers. The Government say they will look at the money resolution only after the Boundary Commissions have reported in the Autumn. This is an admission that this is a process entirely about the Conservative Party’s political advantage.

“As Tory backbenchers have made clear, if the Government do not like the Bill they should bring forward a money resolution and vote against the Bill in the normal way.”

Ends

Notes to editors:

The opposition day debate will take place on Tuesday 19 June

Labour’s motion, tabled today, states:

That, notwithstanding the provisions of Standing Order No. 48 and the practice of the House relating to the authorisation of charges upon the public revenue, the Parliamentary Constituencies (Amendment) Bill Committee has leave to consider the Clauses of the Bill and any new Clauses that may be proposed to it; but the Bill may not be reported from the Committee before this House has passed a Money Resolution, for which the Queen’s Recommendation has been signified, in relation to the Bill.

Convention is that the Government brings forward a money resolution for any Private Member’s Bill that has passed Second Reading. The Government has recognised this in the past. In 2015 a Government Minister said:

“Once the House has given a Private Member’s Bill a Second Reading, the convention is that the Government, even when they robustly oppose it, always table a money resolution.”

The Government are effectively choosing winners and losers on Private Members Bills. This means that despite the ballot result the Government block Bills by refusing a money resolution not by voting it down.

The Bill

The Bill does the following:

Fixed size of Parliament at 650 MPs.
Fixed allocation of 18 MPs in Northern Ireland and keeps the protected areas already legislated for in 2011.
Allows a 7.5% variation in electorate of any constituency (no less than 92.5% of electoral quota, no more than 107.5%).
Report back before 1st October 2020 and every 10th year after that.
Sets that the electorate calculation will use the register of electors from the 2017 General Election and the most recent General Election there afterwards for future reviews.

The Bill passed second reading unanimously on 1^st December 2017. The House expressed a clear wish that the Bill be debated and scrutinised in Committee, which has been reaffirmed in Points of Order, Business Questions and in the unanimous cross-party response to an Urgent Question on 10 May 2018.

There was an emergency debate on this issues on 19 May 2018.

Labour stands ready to work with all parties to ensure that a boundary review can go ahead in a way that benefits our democracy, not just the Conservative Party.