Voting reform bill deal draws nearer
Labour sources believe the government will give ground after ministers realised threat to impose a 'guillotine' in the House of Lords to force a vote on the bill would fail
Labour is inching towards a deal with the coalition on a controversial government bill to introduce a referendum on electoral reform and to shrink the size of the House of Commons.
Senior Labour sources expressed confidence that the government will give ground after ministers realised that a threat to impose a "guillotine" in the House of Lords to force a vote on the bill would fail.
Downing Street had indicated at its daily briefing at 11am today that David Cameron is losing patience with Labour peers, who have held about 80 hours of debate on the parliamentary voting system and constituencies bill, and is prepared to break precedent by tabling a "guillotine" to force a vote.
But Labour sources said the government was preparing to meet one of its main conditions greater scrutiny of plans to shrink the House of Commons after it became clear over the weekend that a guillotine motion would fail.
The key moment came when Lady D'Souza, the convenor of the non-party crossbench peers who hold the balance of power, spoke out strongly against any attempt to curtail debate in the upper house.
Labour sources said they were confident that the government would agree to hold "real and meaningful" public inquiries where there is strong opposition to new parliamentary boundaries, which will have to be introduced if the Commons is to be shrunk by 10%.
The classic example is in Cornwall where there is opposition to a proposal for the most easterly constituency in Cornwall to cross the river Tamar into neighbouring Devon.
The bill is one of the most important elements of the coalition's constitutional reform programme. It contains key elements for the Lib Dems and the Tories.
The AV referendum, due to be held in May, was the main Lib Dem win in the coalition negotiations last yea! r. Shrin king the Commons by 10% was a key Tory manifesto pledge.
The government had been prepared to take the unprecedented step of imposing a guillotine motion in the House of Lords because the legislation needs to reach the statute book by 16 February to allow a referendum on AV to be held by May. The Boundary Commission also needs early notice to redraw parliamentary boundaries to take account of a shrunken House of Commons.
Cameron has said that a vote in May on the same day as the local and devolved election will reduce costs. Offering greater consultation over the boundary review is designed to allay fears that reducing the Commons by 10% will amount to gerrymandering parliament in favour of the Tories.
The Tories and Lib Dems are struggling in the Lords because they do not enjoy an overall majority in the upper house. The Tories (204 seats) and Lib Dems (83 seats) hold 287 seats between them in the 753-seat chamber. Labour is the largest party with 233 seats. This means that the non-party crossbench peers, with 182 seats, hold the balance of power.
Mark Harper, the constitutional affairs minister, indicated this morning that a compromise was possible. Harper told the Daily Politics on BBC2: "There are some important principles about getting the referendum on 5 May and having fewer MPs and more equal seats. Those are important principles so we're not going to concede on those.
"We already have in both the Commons and the Lords agreed to some improvements that both houses have made during scrutiny. The two things that D'Souza's been looking at are a post-legislative review of the numbers, what happens when you reduce to 600 MPs, what sort of effect does it have. We're very happy to look at that. We've already been having some talks with some of her colleagues.
"The other one is about can we reintroduce some oral element into the consultation process, for evidence. We're very happy to look at that as long as ... you get the review done in time."
Harper's emollient to! ne came after D'Souza told the Sunday Telegraph that many peers would be opposed to a guillotine motion.
"I think that the majority of peers would be extremely antipathetic of anything that smacked of a guillotine. The job of this house is to scrutinise legislation and if we lose that we really might as well go home and cease to exist. My lot say it would create a precedent and they are very opposed. It is not only crossbench peers who would be opposed, I think there would be Tories and Liberal Democrats too."
Lord Falconer of Thoroton, the former lord chancellor who is leading the Labour charge, told the Sunday Telegraph: "The consequences of a guillotine is that the government would get control of the Lords. This would be an abomination. Within seven months of getting into power, they are trying to castrate the only independent part of it."
Downing Street had indicated earlier today that the prime minister was prepared to table a guillotine motion if Labour peers refuse to give ground. Asked whether a motion was planned, the prime minister's spokesman said: "We are going to see how things go today and take stock. We are still considering our options."
But Downing Street indicated that the government was still hoping to reach a compromise with Labour peers. The prime minister's spokesman said: "There will be discussions in the course of this afternoon. I do not want to pre-empt them. The government remains committed to pushing this legislation through. We have very clear proposals a referendum on AV and equalising the size of constituencies. The Lords rightly have a role to review and scrutinise legislation. If they have specific proposals they can vote on them. At the moment they do not seem to be having many votes."
The spokesman insisted that it would not separate the two key aspects of the bill the referendum and shrink! ing the commons by 10%. "They are both in the same bill, that's our intention and we are going to stick to that," he said.
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