Labour to push ahead with purdah rebellion

Labour still plans to defeat the government on a key aspect of the purdah row in the EU Referendum Bill, in spite of an attempt by ministers to compromise on the legislation.

Labour will support ministers’ proposals to introduce exemptions to purdah in new clause 10, but will also support the rebel amendment tabled by Bernard Jenkin which will block a snap referendum and force the government to give four months’ notice of a referendum. The Tory eurosceptics see their amendment as a compromise on purdah. If the government accepts their amendment, there will be no rebellion on this.

But this is just one aspect of the complicated row. A Labour source tells me that the party will vote against the government on amendment 4 and 53, which introduces a ‘full fat’ version of purdah. The government’s current restrictions to purdah would mean they might never need to bring forward exemptions at all as the scope is so wide that they could publish a great deal of material that might influence an EU vote without falling foul of the own restrictions.