LibDem Peers: Fit for Purpose?

Vince Cable is a much respected man on all sides of the House of Commons. This respect does not seem to extend to LibDem Peers who made themselves look utterly ludicrous yesterday when they voted against an amendment personally moved by Vince Cable in the Commons, and which he said was "important". The amendment related to the Sarkozy watering down of free and undistorted competition. They looked utterly ludicrous, even while making the limp claim that other parties did not support Cable in the Commons. Their Leader Lord McNally said Cable's amendment was an "elephant trap".

Amendment 29A
Page 1, line 12, after “excluding” insert –
“(i) Article 2, paragraph 12, inserted Article 2B TEC (TFEU), paragraph 1(b) providing for the establishing of competition rules necessary for the functioning of the internal market to be an area of exclusive competence of the European Union, unless arrangements have been made for the Secretary of State to report to Parliament each year on the operation and application of European Union competition policy according to the principle set out in the Protocol on the Internal Market and Competition.”

This is the wording of an amendment laid by Vince Cable in the Commons, who said “the concession represented a step backwards in political terms and that is why we have tabled some amendments to ensure that that aspect of the treaty is monitored as it proceeds.”

The 38 LibDem Peers voting against the Cable amendment included their 3 "Shadow Cabinet" members, among them their Leader and Chief Whip. Both their Lords' Deputy Leaders (Dholakia and Wallace) voted against the amendment moved by their Commons Deputy Leader!

Even in a Jeremy Vine Western the Deputies usually fire at tin cans or men in masks, not at each other