A last-ditch Conservative attempt to force Labour to answer questions in Parliament about Andy Burnham's plans has been blocked. The Tories pressed for a vote in the House of Lords for the new Prime Minister's policies to be debated by peers before they go on summer recess. The motion, which would have seen one of Mr Burnham's ministers summoned to the red benches, was defeated by 234 votes to 173.
Accusations of avoiding scrutiny
Mr Burnham has been accused of dodging scrutiny by not taking questions from MPs before they went on their summer recess last week. He entered 10 Downing Street on Monday but the Commons broke up last Thursday.
Lord True, the Leader of the Opposition in the House of Lords, said: “It looks as if the Prime Minister is bending over backwards to avoid telling Parliament what his plans are. But yesterday, outside Parliament, while Parliament was sitting here, he declared grandiloquently that he would be, and I quote ‘a circuit breaker for Britain’, bringing forward the biggest changes in the last 40 years – a new political model.”
He added: “We have government by continuous press conference and media spin, and it isn’t what this great House has ever believed in, or should readily accept. In this unprecedented situation, the Government should answer in detail and with details to this part of Parliament that is sitting.”
Government response
Leader of the House of Lords Baroness Smith of Basildon said the Government will “welcome scrutiny”, but added: “In politics, as in life, patience is a virtue. This is day two of a new Prime Minister. The Government is still being formed.”
After the vote, Lord True hit out at the Lib Dems for voting against, saying: “It is disappointing but not surprising to see the Liberal Democrats collude with the new Labour administration and help Andy Burnham shirk scrutiny. They have been happy to support similar motions aimed at Conservative Governments in the past, but now Labour are in power, they have gone soft. There is only one Party holding Labour to account in Parliament, and that is the Conservatives.”
Background
Mr Burnham came under fire from the Tories last week after they were blocked from an attempt to delay MPs' summer break until Monday 20 July “to enable the new prime minister to make a statement about his plans for Government”. Sir Keir Starmer's government cancelled the scheduled Opposition Day debate, which would have allowed the Conservatives to choose the topic discussed, to make way for a general debate on Iran and a statutory instrument related to national security.
Mr Burnham, the former Greater Manchester mayor who returned to Parliament just weeks ago in the Makerfield by-election, has promised the biggest change to British politics in 40 years.
