Commons misses chance to give more power to backbenchers as time runs out

WINDING-UP PROCESS:MAJOR CHANGES to the rules of the House of Commons, which would have offered backbench MPs significant powers over the British government and which were accepted by MPs just last month, will not go ahead, it emerged last night.

Under long-standing House of Commons rules, all parties must spend a number of days haggling over uncompleted business after the prime minister has gone to Buckingham Palace and sought the dissolution of parliament.

In a process known as “the wash-up” the government must decide its own priorities and also seek the co-operation of the opposition, rather than simply out-voting it.

Usually, controversial items unacceptable to the major opposition party are dropped in the search for agreement.

Last night the government dropped plans to raise taxes on cider by 10p a bottle and to put a 50p levy on all landlines to pay for broadband internet to rural areas, following strong opposition to both ideas from the Conservative Party.

A reform report produced by retiring Labour MP Tony Wright had advocated the creation of a backbench business committee that would set down the agenda for parliament, rather than having this decided at the whim of 10 Downing Street.

However, Labour leader of the house Harriet Harmon yesterday told MPs that the passage of standing orders necessary to create the committee “may not happen” over the next two days. Instead they could be passed as “the first act of a new parliament”.

Last month Labour and Conservative backbench MPs united in a rare show of agreement to back the new body, against the wishes of Gordon Brown and David Cameron, neither of whom want their powers curbed by MPs.

Mr Cameron put forward an amendment which would have given backbenchers control of the agenda for a token 15 days of parliamentary sitting annually, but MPs rejected this yesterday by 221 votes to 106.

Backbenchers in both parties privately argue that they have been increasingly sidelined in recent years.

In addition, some compromise will have to be found on the Constitutional Reform and Governance Bill, which would allow police to hold DNA records for six years, before the measure is debated tomorrow.

Both the Conservatives and the Liberal Democrats have strongly opposed this element of the Bill from the beginning.