From Gallery News comes info that the Speaker has decided not to allow the Labour rebels reasoned amendment for a referendum to be discussed.
EUROPE: Speaker denies vote on amendment
The Speaker has decided not to select the amendment calling for a referendum in tonight's 2nd Reading debate on the European Treaty Bill
A vote on the whole Bill is due at about 10pm. The Conservatives will vote against and the Liberal Democrats in favour.
MPs are not allowed to criticise such decisions - or even talk to the amendment which has not been selected.
However, we aren't bound by any such rules - if Speaker Martin is going to manage this debate in a biased way (he personally is not keen on a referendum) then he will face increasing criticism. We are watching you.
I'd check out the parliamentary conventions on selecting reasoned amendments at Second Reading, if I were you, before you throw your toys out of the pram entirely.
ReplyDeleteReasoned amendments at 2R have to be "fatal"; i.e. have to strike at the principle of the Bill. Since there is scope to amend the Bill to provide for a referendum, without undermining the principle of the Bill, it follows that the attempt at a reasoned amendment was out of order because it did not argue that the Treaty should not be ratified.
There are going to be plenty of chances for referndum amendments to be made in Committee, I am sure.