We're not ignoring you but vote doesn't bind, PM's deputy tells MPs

Theresa May’s deputy was forced to deny on Thursday that her minority administration was ignoring parliament after the government said it was not bound by an overwhelming vote calling for the rollout of universal credit to be paused.

Labour’s motion, which called for the controversial welfare reform to be halted while glitches are fixed, passed unanimously on Wednesday night after Tory whips told their MPs to abstain.

“All governments have to abide by the rules of parliament. We’re a parliamentary democracy,” Damian Green, the first secretary of state, said. But “as the Speaker said last night, motions like that are non-binding motions, so they don’t engage government activity particularly.

“On any individual vote, the chief whip and the whips will decide what the party’s position will be, but, absolutely, we contribute fully to parliament and we obviously will continue to respect parliamentary rules.”

Past governments facing defeat in the Commons on so-called opposition day motions have tended to shift policy as a result. Gordon Brown’s government, for example, gave Gurkhas new rights to settle in the UK after it lost a vote on the issue in 2009.

May, who has only a fragile governing majority, has adopted a strategy of urging MPs to abstain on opposition day debates, rather than see the divisions in her own party exposed by a series of embarrassing defeats.

Sarah Wollaston, the Conservative MP for Totnes, was the only Tory to vote against the government on Wednesday, but another vocal rebel, Heidi Allen, abstained after the prime minister offered her personal assurances.

The chancellor, Philip Hammond, is under pressure to alleviate the squeeze on living standards in next month’s budget, and Green hinted that the government was open to further improvements to universal credit in addition to Wednesday’s announcement that the 55p-a-minute helpline would be made free.

“What we want to do is to make sure the system works as well as possible, and that’s what [the work and pensions secretary] David Gauke and his colleagues at the DWP are doing. That’s why we keep improving the system,” he said.

Critics have called for the six-week wait for payments to be shortened and for claimants to be able to opt for fortnightly rather than monthly payments.

Earlier on Thursday, a Tory MP criticised the leader of the House of Commons, Andrea Leadsom, after she insisted the government was not obliged to take action after the vote.

Sir Edward Leigh, the veteran MP for Gainsborough, said: “The road to tyranny is paved by executives ignoring parliaments.”

He said ignoring the vote might embolden a future minority Labour government to act against the will of the Commons. “I believe that the secretary of state should come and make a statement, and it should be a statement full of meat.

“Parliament does matter. If we, as Conservatives, live by the sword now, our Conservative values might die by the sword in future.”

Peter Bone, another long-serving Tory MP, said he had never been whipped not to vote for his own government’s policy.

Labour is seeking to exploit the government’s weakness and press home the anti-austerity arguments made during the general election campaign by holding a series of debates on key social policy issues.

Next week it will challenge May over the funding of social care. Barbara Keeley, the shadow minister for social care, said: “Councils urgently need government funding to stabilise the social care system. During the election, Labour set out plans to tackle the crisis made in Downing Street by committing £8bn in funding for social care during this parliament.”

Valerie Vaz, the shadow leader of the Commons, pressed Leadsom on the government’s response to the defeat on universal credit.

“This is where we make the law. This is not a school debating chamber. This is a disorganised government, disrespectful to the house,” she said.

“I know the government didn’t want to hear about people in rent arrears struggling to feed their families when they’re in work, but that’s the reality when government policy is failing.”

Announcing parliamentary business for the week ahead, Leadsom repeatedly insisted the government was listening to MPs’ concerns about universal credit, citing Gauke’s announcement that the helpline would be made free to use.

“This government is very clearly listening to parliament, and has very clearly taken action as a result of concerns raised in this house.

“DWP ministers will come back to the chamber to update members across the house on the progress with rolling out universal credit.”

Bone said ministers should be obliged to respond to resolutions such as Wednesday’s with a statement to parliament within 12 weeks.

Leadsom also confirmed that the EU withdrawal bill would not return to the Commons next week, and pointed to long breaks of up to 10 weeks at the same stage of other recent constitutional bills, such as the Human Rights Act and the Fixed Term Parliament Act.

“It should be reassuring to the house to know that the government is looking very carefully at those amendments and clauses,” she said.

“I would like to point out to members across the house that there is nothing odd at all about a pause between second reading and committee of the whole house.”

The EU bill delay and the government’s decision to ignore the universal credit motion underline the challenges of governing without a secure majority.

A sly swipe at Osborne’s snipes

Damian Green also used his appearance in the Commons to make a jibe at the expense of his former colleague, George Osborne, who has used his platform as editor of the London Evening Standard to attack the prime minister.

“I found it disorientating being in Manchester for the week [of the Tory party conference] because I normally take all of my political analysis from the London Evening Standard,” Green said.

“I know that the government, indeed the prime minister personally, is to blame for Ben Stokes’ nightlife, Hurricane Ophelia and the fact that week after week, as we go through October and into November, the sun shines for a smaller time every day.”

Green even compared the former chancellor’s paper, which has repeatedly criticised the government over Brexit, to a Kremlin-backed TV broadcaster. “The Evening Standard: Russia Today with less George Galloway,” he said.