A week after uproar in the Commons over the vote on the European Arrest Warrant that was or wasn’t a vote, depending on what you fancied believing, Theresa May faced MPs at Home Office questions where she was rather quickly pulled up on that debacle. Shadow Home Office minister David Hanson asked why the House of Lords did get a vote on the European Arrest Warrant when MPs were denied the opportunity last week. May replied:
‘I have to say to the right honourable gentleman that I was very clear and in fact we spent quite a considerable time last Wednesday discussing the motion that had been brought forward by the government, we were very clear that motion would be binding on the government in relation to the package of 35 measures, the regulations are now being discussed by the House of Lords.
‘Sadly of course this House was not able to have a full opportunity to debate these matters last week because the right honourable lady, the Shadow Home Secretary chose to move a closure motion to stop debate.’
That’s not really true, for the reasons set out here, though Yvette Cooper certainly did make matters much more difficult for the government after it had already botched the job.
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