Privately, the Conservatives are probably not particularly surprised about the demise of Bob Neill’s EU referendum bill, this time at the hands of the Liberal Democrats. It was always a Downing Street ruse to help quell backbench rebellion and senior Tories have ever since viewed the progress both of this bill and its predecessor, led by James Wharton, as an opportunity to cheer up the backbenches with bacon butty breakfasts and so on.
Of course, it had a political point, now well proven, which was that only the the Conservatives want to let Britain decide its continued membership of the EU. That both Labour and the Lib Dems have blocked the bills now helps the Conservatives make that point on the doorstep.
The latest failure was because the Tories refused to agree to a money resolution for Lib Dem Andrew George’s bill amending the ‘bedroom tax’.
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