CAMERON: I’LL CURB PEERS
Never again, pledges PM after Lords’ historic snub to Commons
‘Can’t tolerate this interference’
THE Prime Minister last night pledged to clip the wings of the House of Lords as it was accused of a ‘constitutional coup’.
Following the historic vote against taxcredit cuts on Monday, David Cameron vowed to dramatically curtail the Lords’ ability to derail the will of elected MPs.
He announced a review into how the Commons can be given the ‘decisive role’ over key financial decisions, chaired by former Lords leader Lord Strathclyde.
A Downing Street spokesman said the review would look at protecting ‘the ability of elected governments to secure their business in Parliament’.
It came as the Government narrowly avoided losing another Lords vote last night – ahead of an expected defeat today on allowing 16- and 17-year-olds to vote in the EU referendum.
Cabinet minister Chris Grayling yesterday criticised Labour and the Lib Dems, telling Radio 4’s Today programme: ‘If it is their intention to tear up the rules that have applied for half a century and say, “We are happy to throw out the programme of the elected Government,” then of course we have got to address that.’
The Commons Leader said that nothing had been ruled out in the review on consti- tutional arrangements governing the two Houses of Parliament – including the possibility of creating 100 or more Tory peers to secure a majority in the Upper House.
And ex-foreign secretary William Hague pointed the finger at the Lib Dems, saying: ‘If Lloyd George could see his party this week he would not only turn in his grave but jump out of it.’
He wrote in the Daily Telegraph: ‘The idea that matters of taxation are solely for the elected house of our Parliament to decide is a constitutional principle of the United Kingdom if ever there was one.
‘That the Lords deviated from this longterm principle on Monday in order to bring short-term discomfort to a Government they dislike is beyond serious question.
‘Of the scores of democracies I have visited over the last decade, I cannot think of one where an unelected chamber can change or veto the tax proposals of an elected government, however strongly they may feel.’
Constitutional expert Professor Vernon Bogdanor said the Upper House had gone too far by defining itself as an ‘ opposition chamber’ rather than a ‘revising chamber’ – and had no powers over financial legislation under the ‘fundamental principle of no taxation without representation’.
Last night Michael Ellis MP, an aide to Theresa May, said: ‘No government can tolerate this interference in the democratic process of this country. The House of Lords is going to need urgent reform – what has happened is a clear constitutional outrage. I believe this is a constitutional coup. They have put the whole democratic process into question.’
Monday’s tax-credits vote was the first time in more than a century that peers had sought to overturn the will of the Commons on a financial matter. The policy was defeated despite the efforts of Tory peer Andrew Lloyd Webber, who flew first- class from New York to vote for the first time in two years.
During Treasury questions Chan- cellor George Osborne told MPs: ‘Personally I’ve always supported and voted for an elected House of Lords but to be absolutely frank, I’ve never been able to persuade the House of Commons.’
And the Speaker faced a deluge of Points of Order with Tory MPs demanding he stand up for the rights of the Commons. But John Bercow replied: ‘Nothing disorderly has occurred, there has been no procedural impropriety.’
Among the protesters were former defence secretary Liam Fox, who questioned the ‘ constitutional implications’ of the Lords’ actions.
Labour’s Wes Streeting accused Mr Osborne of ‘manufacturing a phoney constitutional crisis’ over planned tax-credit cuts. But senior Conserva-
tive backbencher David Davis, who is backing another critical motion on the tax-credit changes to be debated in the Commons on Thursday, said the constitutional questions were a side issue.
‘The simple truth is that this was an incredibly important, possibly harmful, thing to 3million people – hard-working families, the people we are supposed to support – and somebody had to tell the Government to think again,’ he told Today. Labour’s shadow Lords leader Bar- oness Smith said: ‘This is a massive over-reaction from a Prime Minister that clearly resents any challenge or meaningful scrutiny. Any review should be in the public interest and not for narrow partisan benefit.’