Parliamentary Failure

You'd expect me to be disappointed at the passing of the European Union (Notification of Withdrawal) Bill, without amendment by the House of Commons. I am a 'Remainer', I am appalled that the result of the referendum was achieved by deliberate misrepresentation; by making that promise that the NHS would get an extra £350 million a week if we withdrew - which was so cynically used, when there was never any intention to honour it; and by the stoking of prejudice and hate.

But I'm used to disappointment in politics (I've been a Labour Party activist for 43 years - possibly to the day!); I've campaigned in the US for John Kerry (2004) & Hillary Clinton (2016) and lost my own parliamentary (Blaby, 2001 & 2005) and European Parliamentary (2009) races.

My concern about the Bill which has now been passed by the House of Commons - is that it is an important Enabling Bill - which has no scrutiny of the use of the tremendous power it hands to the Prime Minister. I'm not a sore loser - I'm concerned that Parliament has abdicated power. There were many good amendments - but they were bulldozed away. Scrutiny matters. Parliament should always be holding the Executive to account. MPs are there to represent the concerns of their constituents - NOT to dictate to the Executive - but to raise concerns, challenge poor decision making, and get answers from decision makers. This bill does NOT contain basic safeguards.

The Opposition, by virtue of having failed to win as many seats as the Government party - should NOT expect veto power. It is frustrating to see good amendments voted down (as happens on Government Bills  regularly - and that has happened throughout the modern era of Parliament). Being out of government (and that applies to Opposition members AND backbench members of the party forming the Government) means that the role is often limited to warning and pleading.  I applaud the work of 'rebel' Conservative MPs, the Labour, Lib-Dem, SNP (& other parties) in trying to change the bill. The work of opposition is frustrating, and there are very few successes. But losses in the Commons stage of a bill are not a waste of time. Often ideas put forward by the opposition will lead to later amendments put down by the Government itself. Backbench MPs can make a difference to policy and legislation.

But this is a bald Enabling Bill. The Government will not tolerate any amendments, or any meaningful parliamentary Scrutiny of the use of the tremendous power it grants to the Prime Minister. If I had become a Labour MP, I would have rebelled last night (and I don't take rebellion lightly!). This was a bad bill. The House of Commons should not have abdicated its power, MPs should have used their judgement, not been browbeaten by the Whips; and sections of the Press. Whatever you think about the issue of Britain's relationship with the EU - surrendering power to the Executive without requiring some level of meaningful scrutiny should be of concern.

The Bill now goes to the Lords.