Govt running out of options on AV referendum impasse
Government attempts to sidestep Lords opposition to the AV referendum bill are unlikely to succeed, an insider has told politics.co.uk.
A Commons-style guillotine motion is now being viewed as the only option left on the table for the bill to get royal assent by February 26th.
If passed this would schedule a fixed point when debate would finish, allowing the bill to make progress.
Although it has been widely used in the Commons since the 1970s it has never once been resorted to in parliament’s upper House.
“If such a motion was attempted, party loyalties all around would be tested,” a Lords insider said.
“Many would simply not have the stomach for it because of the effect it would have in the long-term for Lords procedure.”
Guillotine motions were introduced in the Commons in the 19th century as a counter to Irish MPs campaigning for home rule.
Their use increased dramatically during the following century and became a major source of complaint for the Conservatives in opposition under the New Labour government.
The Lords never adopted the controversial procedure, creating the scope for filibustering currently on display.
A guillotine motion would be a “complete novelty”, the insider added. “You wouldn’t necessarily know how people would jump.”
The government has twice tried the unusual step of passing ‘closure motions’ but these measures have had limited effect.
Every time they are used a formal warning from Lords officials is triggered stating that the measure is “a most exceptional procedure”.
They only serves to bring the matter under discussion to a head – but opposition MPs can easily table another amendment to scrutinise, thus prolonging the process further.
Labour peers’ efforts to block the alternative vote referendum planned for May 5th rest on the bill not receiving royal assent on February 26th.
They claim the bill’s measures cutting the size of the Commons from 650 MPs to 600 is a form of “gerrymandering” and are seeking greater flexibility in the redrawing of constituency boundaries.
A political solution achieved through compromise looks unlikely. Thomas Strathclyde, the leader of the Lords, admitted there was a “real risk” that the bill would fail to become law by the deadline.
If the law is not passed by February 26th there will not be sufficient time for the mandatory ten week campaign before the vote, meaning the referendum will not be able to take place on the planned date of May 5th.
