The High-Speed Rail Bill pops up in the Commons on Monday – with two attempts to kill it off planned. Michael Fabricant and Cheryl Gillan – whose constituencies would both be affected by the proposed route – have both drawn up motions which call for the House of Commons to decline to give the Bill a second reading.
Fabricant was sacked from his position as Vice Chair of the Conservative party for pushing ahead with his motion (and a number of other things, too) and has the support of Sir Edward Leigh, Jeremy Lefroy, David Davis, David Nuttall, William Cash, Caroline Spelman, Bob Blackman, Chris Kelly and Andrew Turner. Gillan, who left the Cabinet in 2012 partly so that she could focus on campaigning against the line, has a cross-party group of MPs supporting her motion, which may make it more likely to be called by the Speaker. Labour’s Frank Dobson, Kate Hoey, Kelvin Hopkins and Natascha Engel, and Green MP Caroline Lucas have all signed Gillan’s clause, along with Tories Andrew Bridgen, Tim Loughton, David Nuttall (again), Caroline Spelman (again), Philip Lee, Dan Byles, Chris Kelly (again), Christopher Chope, David Davis (again) and Andrew Turner (again).
The Conservative whips are not going to any particular lengths at the moment to quell a rebellion, which is expected to lead to between 30 and 40 MPs either voting for whichever fatal motion is called, or simply voting against the second reading of the Bill itself.
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