‘Purdah’ amendment to EU referendum bill defeated — but only thanks to Labour

The government has defeated Bill Cash’s rebel amendment on the changes to the ‘purdah’ rules during the EU referendum campaign, but only thanks to Labour abstaining. The actual vote was 288 to 97.

Now, the SNP voted with the Tory rebels as did Douglas Carswell, a few Labour Euro-scpetics, Plaid and the DUP. This means that around 2o to 30 Tories rebelled, we’re still waiting for the full division list to get the precise number. This is a rebellion that is embarrassing rather than earth shattering. But with Labour support, it would have been enough to overturn the government’s majority, which is a reminder of how hard governing with a majority of 12 could turn out to be.

The lesson that David Cameron should learn from this is to be very careful with the details of this EU referendum bill. He should remember that winning the actual referendum is the easy bit compared to preventing a Tory split over the issue.