Labour have made it clear today that, regardless of any concessions they might make to rebels, they still intend to force the Universal Credit and Personal Independence Payment Bill through with the absolute minimum scrutiny parliament allows.
Lucy Powell, Leader of the House of Commons, announced the proposed timetable for the bill today.
Powell told MPs “I want to reassure colleagues that we take parliamentary scrutiny and process of bills extremely seriously, and that’s what our parliamentary democracy is all about.”
At the same time she revealed that the second reading will take place on Tuesday and every other stage of the bill – committee, report and third reading - will be rushed through in the space of a single day the week after.
Not only that, but as feared, a symbol on the parliament website shows that Labour aims to have this bill certified as a money bill, removing any effective power from the House of Lords to amend it. The final decision on this rests with the speaker, after all amendments have been voted on.
We covered the fast track procedures for a “committee of the whole house” and a money bill here a fortnight ago.
Labour’s plan will make it much more difficult for rebel MPs to scrutinise and amend any concessions offered by the government, as this series of posts on Bluesky by Ruth Fox, Top of Form
Bottom of Form
Director & Head of Research at the Hansard Society explains:
The Government cramming Committee, Report & 3rd Reading into 1 day the week after 2nd Reading (so much for intervals between stages...) means if they pull the Bill they will have 2 days of Commons business to fill. But of greater concern is that this timetable has important implications for...
...those Labour MPs who have signed the reasoned amendment. If the Govt promises concessions in advance of 2nd Reading those will only crystallise at Committee Stage on the 9 July. If they are not quite right, or what the MPs think they were signing up for there will be little time for making...
...changes. If normal procedures are followed the Government should table amendments at least one sitting week in advance - so by the end of Wed 2nd July, the day after 2nd Reading. Non Government MPs will be able to table their own amendments up to three sitting days beforehand - so by the end...
...of the sitting on Friday 4 July. But if MPs are not happy with the proposals made they will have to be resolved on the floor of the Chamber itself on the 9th. This is where the lack of time for reflection, taking advice, can get messy with amendments being proposed and voted...
...on almost in real time. The Bill will go to the House of Lords but it is a money bill so the Lords does not normally have a Committee and Report stage (it is “negatived” in parliamentary parlance) to amend the Bill. They debate it at 2nd Reading and then the remaining stages are a formality.
This underlines how important the Commons scrutiny is. There is no revising backstop for money bills.
So, it seems clear that the government still intends to railroad this bill though before the summer recess, even if they have to give some ground in order to do so.
