Voice co-editor Mark Pack made his debut on Newsnight’s political panel last night, discussing the politics of the autumn statement. You can watch his thoughts below, or on YouTube here.
* Nick Thornsby is a day editor at Lib Dem Voice.
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7 Comments
Did Mark Pack really think the Lords were going to vote on the Autumn Statement?
Chris: No, I was referring to one of the pieces of legislation announced in it.
But surely the Lords won’t vote on it, as it’s a money bill?
I think Mark definitely passed the Paxo test. Survived with dignity, and got some good points across. Well done!
I don’t think welfare bills are classed as “money bills” — I think that just refers to measures for raising money rather than spending it.
In fact, having posted that, I thought “Don’t be so lazy” and went and looked it up:
“A Money Bill is a Bill that deals with national taxation, public money or loans and their management. It is only considered to be a Money Bill if the Speaker of the House of Commons agrees that it is. The Speaker signs a certificate to indicate this. The most important Money Bills are those that deal with taxation bills or the Consolidated Fund Bills that formally vote money to the government.”
So, yes I think the Lords will get a vote (especially as it’s up to Speaker Berkow to decide whether to give it a free ride!).
“A Money Bill is a Bill that deals with national taxation, public money or loans …”
It would deal with “public money”, wouldn’t it? More specifically “the appropriation, receipt, custody, issue or audit of accounts of public money” (my emphasis):
http://www.parliament.uk/documents/commons-information-office/p05.pdf
We’ll see, but I wonder if Osborne is really so wise to emphasise the fact that the measures in this statement primarily penalise those on the lowest incomes. It’s certainly not much help to the Lib Dem narrative about the raising of the tax threshold.