Parliament: House of Lords ~ ‘Vermin in Ermin’ gut Robocop Bill

Useful last minute example for unit 2’s topic on Parliament with the Lords flexing their muscle. The Coalition has suffered a major defeat as the Lords voted to kill off its plans for elected police chiefs. Peers voted 188 to 176 to appoint rather than elect the commissioners. Shadow Home Secretary Yvette Cooper said that the Lords had “ripped the heart out of this deeply flawed flagship bill”. The Guardian has further details - click here.

The Lords defeat for the Coalition’s policing bill underlines just how unruly the Upper Chamber can be - the vote itself was followed by scenes of chaos as ministers didn’t quite realise the consequences of the gutting of a key section of the bill. A few follow on issues of interest might be: 1. The Lib Dem peers finally flexing their muscles with a defeat of a key Coalition Agreement policy 2. But so too are Tory peers, many of whom are furious about Clegg’s plans to chop their numbers - a fury that is likely to be worsened by today’s Guardian story that he wants a ‘lottery’ to cull them. So Tory peer guerilla action forthcoming no doubt. 3. There is also the bigger constitutional problem of whether the Parliament Act can be used to overturn some Lords defeats. It normally applies to matters which are in a manifesto - but what about bills that were not in both parties’ manifestos and only in a Coalition Agreement?