Monday 9th May 2011 | 09:00

Mark Pritchard: Any Liberal Democrat concessions will be seen as 'sour grapes'

Conservative MP and secretary of the 1922 committee Mark Pritchard warns the Prime Minister that "there should be no unnecessary and reaction policy concessions”, making plain that the Conservatives will not tolerate House of Lords reform and would launch “guerrilla attacks” on other legislation.

At the formation of the Coalition Government the Conservative Party agreed to a Parliamentary Bill which would give the British people a referendum on an Alternative Vote electoral system. This significant constitutional commitment did not however - guarantee any particular result. That is where the electorate came in; and last Thursday the British people roundly rejected the Liberal Democrats vision to transform the way MPs are elected to Westminster. The scale of the rejection of AV should also kill off any speculation of a ‘second referendum’ on AV either later in this Parliament or in any future Conservative-Liberal coalition.

Despite all the accusations and counter-accusations of dirty tricks, much of which has been exaggerated, the Coalition partners should now put the high drama of the campaign behind them and once again re-focus their efforts on addressing the nation’s economic, public sector, and national security challenges. With the country tip-toeing out of recession, now is not the time for either Coalition partner to get their political priorities wrong.

There should be no strained effort by Liberal Democrats Ministers to re-negotiate the Coalition Agreement. There should also be no unnecessary and reactive policy concessions by Conservative Ministers.

The Conservative Party have delivered an AV Bill and referendum - now the Liberal Democrats need to help deliver on the wider government agenda. Any unreasonable attempts by Liberal Democrats MPs to block or water down key government Bills could be easily seen as ‘sour grapes’. The British electorate don’t like sore losers.

Essential legislation on welfare reforms, health, law and order, immigration, and Europe, should not be ‘gutted’ to the point where Bills are no longer recognised. Long overdue Bills cannot be allowed to fail in their urgent need to deliver efficient and effective public services.

In particular, Liberal Democrat unease about offering future referenda before any new powers are transferred to Europe need to be kept under close observation – and in check. The ‘referendum lock’ is as much a ‘red line’ for the Conservatives as delivering a referendum on AV was to the Liberal Democrats.

In this new dispensation of a ‘business-like’ relationship between the Coalition partners, there should also be a grown-up acceptance that elected police commissioners, and wider police reform, are also part of the Coalition contract. The rough and tumble of the AV campaign has not led to a ‘breach of faith’ between the Coalition partners, as some Liberal Democrats claim. So there are no excuses for any breach of the Coalition contract.

That is why Britain’s proven and tested constitutional settlement should not be offered up to the Liberal Democrats as some sort of political ‘sacrificial lamb’. An unnecessary and high risk redemptive gesture. The British constitution is not the possession of the political elite in Westminster but the protectorate of the nation as a whole. A constitutional settlement which has been hard fought for over many centuries. Talk of constitutional ‘consolation prizes’ given away like some daytime TV game show, is offensive to all those who put their lives on the line, each and every day, at home and abroad, defending our unwritten constitution and the British values it enshrines.

I am not a Luddite. Like many in my party, I do not object to constitutional reform, but change must avoid being change for changes sake - or given over to politicians who just don’t have enough to do. When it comes to the British Constitution – change must be change that puts the country’s interests above those of finite party interests. The ‘No to AV’ result showed, convincingly, the country at large, has very little appetite for costly and unnecessary constitutional upheaval.

Moreover, those who claim Britain’s constitution has seen little change over recent years, are wrong. Under Labour, the House of Lords saw its first elections, the Supreme Court was birthed, and Scotland and Wales took witnessed devolution. Even within the last few weeks Parliament has agreed to ‘fixed term’ Parliaments, as well as the AV referendum itself. The country’s second ever nationwide referendum - both Liberal Democrat policies.

If ill-thought through House of Lords reform begins to dominate the legislative agenda, not only will the public begin to think the coalition has lost its primary focus of deficit-reduction and fixing the economy, but their Lordships, across the political divide, could mount delaying ‘guerrilla attacks’ on the passage of more important government Bills. Such a scenario would be damaging to the government’s wider legislative agenda and disrupt the good working relationship that currently exists between the Prime Minister and Tory Peers. Lib Dem threats to use the Parliament Act would backfire, further entrench Peers, and de-legitimise any draft Constitutional Bill.

Nick Clegg should also avoid using constitutional reforms as a way of trying to exorcise the ghosts of Asquith and Lloyd George. 2011 is not the year for carving out names in Liberal Democrat history books – but a year of growing the economy and getting people back to work.

Constitutional reform is certainly not off limits for most Conservatives. Lib Dem support for an early British Bill of Rights, helping to curb European Courts, would be supported by the majority of the Conservative parliamentary party. So would tackling the West Lothian question. A more pressing issue given the SNP’s success in the Scottish elections. Neither of these policies should alarm either Liberal Democrat MPs or their grassroots.

The coalition has made much progress over the last twelve months, including legislating for key Liberal Democrat policies, such as: increasing the lower earnings tax threshold, as well offering more financial help to mitigate the withdrawal of Educational Maintenance Allowance. It is now time for all coalition MPs, including Cabinet Ministers, Vince Cable and Chris Huhne, to give their full backing to both the Prime Minister - and to Nick Clegg. The electorate are not attracted to disunited parties. The Conservative Party’s own past testifies to this. If the Liberal Democrats are serious about recovery in the polls, they could no better than reassert their loyalty to the coalition, stop bickering amongst themselves, and get back to governing the country.

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