Blogs > Cliopatria > Yummy, some good old Westminster fudge

Nov 16, 2004

Yummy, some good old Westminster fudge




Public health: smoking bans in pubs, clubs and restaurants. Well, sort of. Can't have any of that nanny-statism nonsense here.

The New Las Vegas. Nope, not quite, after all. Just 8 super-casinos instead of up to 40: consultation and healthy compromise or government back-down in the face of overwhelming opposition?

On the other hand, the back benches might be about to get their way on the long-running foxhuntingsaga. The government would really, really like a compromise (especially with a general election coming up in the spring); but the Lords have rejected the fudge compromise bill again, and so the Parliament Act will almost certainly be invoked later this week to force through what the Commons want: an outright ban. Oh, yes, watch those MPs flex their muscles.


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Richard Henry Morgan - 11/17/2004

The Times of London has an interesting article on this, complete with a summary of Blair's votes. There have been around seven votes, Blair asking for a compromise (without actually voting), then voting for an outright ban, then asking for a compromise while not voting, then voting for the compromise (it was defeated), and then not voting on the total ban. Blair could have taught Fred Astaire a thing or two about tap-dancing.