The 1922 Committee meets at 2pm today, and William Hague will address it. The meeting was originally arranged to discuss the post-referendum settlement for Scotland and England, and English votes for English laws, but Iraq may well dominate the session given tomorrow’s recall.
Those MPs who weren’t sufficiently fortunate or troublesome to have been invited to the Chequers summit on the English settlement on Monday will get an update and a chance to pitch their view in. The party seems, by and large, pretty happy with the way Number 10 has handled this matter so quickly, and the amount of contact they have had from the whips.
But the peace may yet turn into trouble in the Commons. Three of those at Chequers – John Redwood, Bill Cash and Bernard Jenkin – are very keen on amending the House of Commons standing orders to prevent Scottish MPs voting on English matters. Redwood argued in his op-ed in the Telegraph earlier this week that this was ‘straightforward’, saying:
‘As we looked out over the beautiful English countryside enjoying an Indian summer, it seemed so straightforward. Our cause is just. Change Standing Orders of the House and let the new voting commence. The Conservatives have been through a referendum campaign where we put the national interest before party interest. Will Labour now do the same?’
It’s not quite so straightforward, though. This option was raised but not accepted by the Prime Minister, and Number 10 is only possibly considering it. Other MPs present thought it was ‘too aggressive’, and there was some suggestion that as the overall settlement would not apply until after the election, EVEL would not either. The Conservatives have now to consult their Lib Dem colleagues to see what they would agree to, but if for whatever reason they don’t officially adopt the Standing Order route, they may well find their hand is forced by Redwood et al in the Commons anyway.
Others at the Chequers summit got the distinct impression that the Standing Order change would be tabled by Redwood, Cash and Jenkin in the next few weeks, and that the whips would then be forced to work out how on earth the government could respond. One said ‘an option would be making it a free vote or else the Conservatives could even be whipped to support it’. But Redwood told Coffee House that this was a distant option:
‘We’re not at that stage yet. The Conservative part of the government is showing goodwill, and I and others have recommended that there’s a good way of doing this very quickly. They have to consult their Liberal Democrat colleagues, but if they do not consent I would expect the government to come back and talk to us about it all.’
So while the Chequers summit may have tamed the backbench tiger for a little while, it looks as though riding it will still be quite a task for David Cameron.
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