The Government has suffered two defeats this week on the Welfare Reform Bill, both attracting considerable media attention. The fact of defeat is, as I have previously noted, not particularly unusual. These two defeats, though, are noteworthy, the first for the fact that it was Liberal Democrat votes that accounted for it. The Government is…
Lord Norton has referred to the Welfare Reform Bill defeats in the Lords, which I’ve been giving some considerable thought to. I voted with the Government against the amendment by Baroness Meacher to continue ESA for young disabled people who have resources of their own to support them and have not contributed to what is…
Despite the supposed in-built Government majority in the House of Lords, the Government lost a further three votes this week on the European Union Bill. On Monday, the Government lost a division on an amendment moved by a former UK Ambassador to the United Nations, Lord Hannay, by 214 votes to 209. (There was second…
As Lord Knight has reported – and indeed as have several newspapers today – the Government suffered a significant defeat last night on the Police and Social Responsibility Bill. This was the second defeat in two days. The previous day, it lost an important amendment on the Fixed-term Parliaments Bill. These bring to 16 the…
It is variously claimed that the combination of Conservative and Liberal Democrat parties in the House of Lords provides the coalition with an inbuilt majority. It has not proven so inbuilt as to protect the Government from defeat. In yesterday’s proceedings on Report stage of the Public Bodies Bill, there were three votes and the Government lost…
