Douglas Carswell's Blog

The Empire Strikes Back

What was so refreshing about the Coalition in the early days was a sense that they got it.  They seemed to understand that there was something profoundly wrong with politics and Parliament - and were prepared to work together to fix it.

Government was going to be made accountable to Parliament - and Parliament to the people.

Two years on they are indeed fixing things - but not quite the way I hoped.

Take the small, seemingly trivial issue of the Backbench Business Committee.  "The Backbench what?" you might ask.  "Who cares about some MPs committee in SW1".

Except that the Backbench Business Committee (BBBC), perhaps more than other innovation, has helped bring Parliament to life.  Almost everything else that happens in the Commons - the Bills, the declamatory legislation, the meaningless motions, opposition day debates - happens because it is what the party front benches choreograph.  In the BBBC sits a slender chance that the Commons might act spontaneously, considering things that matter to folk outside.   

Chaired by the brilliant Natascha Engel MP, it is the BBBC that made sure we had a debate and vote on votes for prisoners, Britain's EU membership, and all the other stuff that the Whitehall establishment would prefer to dismiss as irresponsible aggitation.  And just occasionally, this also means the government does not get everything its own way.

So now, of course, the government is quietly changing the rules. 

"This is just a tidying up exercise" they tell us.  "We removing an anomaly in the rules to bring the BBBC into line with all the other committees". 

If so, then why not end the anomaly by making the more tame committees adopt the same rules as the BBBC?  You only need to ask the question to see the real motives. 

Make no mistake, today's changes to the small print are intended to ensure the chairman of the BBBC no longer has a mandate from the whole House.  They are designed to clip the wings of the more independent-minded MPs who sit on it.

I fear that reform has turned to reaction.  Change to chicanery.  Radicalism to retreat.   

Back to all posts