Boris Johnson was told today to change his ways by the leader of Conservative backbenchers, who called for “a new modus operandi” at No 10 after confusion and bitter divisions over coronavirus diktats.
In an interview with the Evening Standard, 1922 Committee chairman Sir Graham Brady said the Government had “got into bad habits” of issuing draconian and sometimes baffling new rules without proper debate, scrutiny or consistency.
“It doesn’t surprise me that government, having had the luxury for six months of doing things without proper parliamentary scrutiny, has got into the habit of it,” he said. “It just underlines the importance of breaking that habit and finding a new modus operandi.”
Sir Graham spoke out before a showdown this evening between the Prime Minister and MPs from all parties who are furious about swathes of new Covid-19 restrictions, enforced by fines, being passed into law without Commons debates or votes being held first.
MPs are confident that Mr Johnson will announce a concession to head off a revolt, possibly adopting a form of the so-called Brady Amendment requiring Commons votes before Covid laws come into force “as far as reasonably practicable”.
Nearly 60 Conservatives have backed the amendment — more than enough to demolish Mr Johnson’s majority of 80
So far, the PM has offered only a take-it-or-leave-it vote on extending all the emergency powers under the six-month-old Coronavirus Act. Some MPs may stage a token protest against the extension but most will back it, partly because millions of pounds in financial assistance is also dependent on the Act.
In an outspoken interview, Sir Graham criticised some lockdown measures, including keeping healthy students “under virtual house arrest” at university and the size of fines, which can run up to £10,000 for breaking isolation.
He said parliamentary “checks and balances” were needed to ensure government scientists such as Chris Whitty and Sir Patrick Vallance do not “overstep the mark”, and criticised the Government for timetabling just 90 minutes for today’s debate.
Sir Graham, regarded as the shop steward of Tory backbenchers, praised Chancellor Rishi Sunak’s “impressive” performance and speech calling on people to “live without fear” as he unveiled his Winter Economy Plan last week. But he cautioned against excessive tax hikes in the delayed Budget that could hit families and struggling businesses.
Business Secretary Alok Sharma hinted at concessions in the row over new Covid restrictions, saying ministers would “come forward with some suggestions” to pacify the rebels.
But the Cabinet minister deepened the row over confusing lockdown rules by declining to answer what he claimed were “gotcha questions” designed to test his own ability to explain them.
In a comment that drew derision from senior journalists such as the BBC’s political editor Laura Kuenssberg, he told Radio 4’s Today programme: “You are a flagship programme when it comes to serious news, and it’s not a quiz show.”
Yesterday the Prime Minister had to apologise after getting his own rules wrong, as did Skills Minister Gillian Keegan.
Rebel Tory Steve Baker said that pressure for more scrutiny in Parliament was “not going to go away”.
He said MPs had reached a “fork in the road” and were worried the rule of law was “going out of the window with the virus”.
“I don’t want to be in the business of forcing the Government but what I would say is this is a fork in the road,” he told Today.
Coronavirus hits the UK - In pictures
“Either later today we will face a reasonable offer which we can accept, back down — and gladly — or we will end up that these members of Parliament are not going to go away and we will keep battling on.”
A spokesman for the Prime Minister said: “The Government is doing everything it reasonably can to engage Parliament in the Covid process, whilst also ensuring it has the ability to react swiftly to changes in the data in order to suppress the virus.”
Former de facto deputy PM Damian Green, another rebel, said: “It is important for Parliament to remind government at periodic intervals that Parliament matters.
“All governments find Parliament inconvenient but it is at the heart of our democracy. If it is occasionally inconvenient, so be it. What we must not get to is rule by decree.”
Asked about a letter to the Prime Minister from more than 100 hospitality businesses raising concerns about the 10pm curfew, Mr Sharma said the Government had provided “a lot of specific support” to the sector.
“I completely understand that they have concerns about a restriction at 10pm, but actually they are able to operate through large parts of the evening,” he told BBC Breakfast.
“There’s a range of measures that we’ve introduced in the last few days — the reason is to keep this thing under control. If we didn’t do that, what we might end up having to do is something more draconian, and nobody wants to do that.”
He said the policies would be kept under review but insisted the 10pm curfew in areas with local restrictions “has worked”.
“Nobody wants this to get out of control and for us to go back to where we were in March, which is a lockdown affecting large parts of our economy, I think that would be absolutely terrible, particularly I think for the businesses that have written this letter,” he added.