The coalition bares its tensions over Europe

Here’s an irony: last night’s EU fandango was the fifth largest vote in favour of the government this year. And yet there is little about the situation that is favourable to the government this morning, as the story moves on from Tory splits to coalition ones. 

It started with Michael Gove’s appearance on the Today Programme earlier. The Secretary of State for Education put in a much more conciliatory performance than William Hague managed yesterday; praising the “cordiality” of the Tory rebels, and reassuring them that the Tory leadership would like to see specific powers returned from Europe “in this Parliament”. As he put it:

“We need to win more and that process will require careful negotiation but we are fortunate in having a Conservative Party that is united as never before behind that renegotiation.”

But what unites the Conservative Party does not unite the two segments of the coalition — as Nick Clegg has since made clear. Speaking of repatriating powers this morning, the Lib Dem leader said (via Total Politics):

“It’s not going to happen … We should stop tilting at windmills about threats and challenges which simply aren’t there right now … You don’t change Europe by launching some smash-and-grab dawn raid on Brussels.”

What we’re seeing now, with relation to Europe, is the gaps in the Coalition Agreement being prised apart. All that document really promised was the referendum lock: “We will amend the 1972 European Communities Act so that any proposed future treaty that transferred areas of power, or competences, would be subject to a referendum on that treaty”. There is nothing about clawing back powers in the absence of a new treaty, nor, technically, about doing so with a new treaty in place. The government’s policy is not simply unclear — it is absent.

With the Tory backbenches bristling, and the possibility that Europe may actually start tweaking its treaties, David Cameron has to start filling in this hole. But doing so will mean activating one of the coalition parties’ trickiest divides. No, last night has not put the European issue to bed. It has reawakened it.   

P.S. To put last night’s rebellion into context, I’d recommend this latest post by Philip Cowley and Mark Stuart.