Government averts Tory rebellion as anti-genocide compromise passes in Parliament
The government has staved off a Tory rebellion as it squeezed through a compromise deal on blocking trade agreements with countries found to have committed genocide.
MPs were denied a straight vote this afternoon on an amendment to the Trade Bill that would have handed powers to determine whether a country has committed genocide over to the High Court.
The government instead allowed MPs to vote on a compromise by Conservative chair of the justice select committee Sir Bob Neill, which gives select committee chairs the power to reject trade deals with countries with poor human rights records.
MPs voted 318 to 303 in favour of the amendment, handing the government a slim majority of 15.
But the decision not to allow MPs a straight vote on the matter whipped up a frenzy among senior backbenchers.
Sir Iain Duncan Smith, former Conservative party leader, said the government’s tactics were “beneath them”.
“The government deliberately has blocked this. That is the reality,” he said. “I wish they had thought again, and they don’t try this one again.”
Sir Iain likened this afternoon’s parliamentary procedure to the viral Handforth Parish Council meeting video, saying it was “always a good idea to read the standing orders”.
It comes amid growing tensions over China’s treatment of Uyghur Muslims in the Xinjang province, with mounting pressure across the globe to condemn the persecution of ethnic minorities in the region as genocide.
In one of his last acts in the White House, former US secretary of state Mike Pompeo last month said China had committed “crimes against humanity” in Xinjiang and declared the treatment of the Uyghur population as genocide.
A subsequent vote on whether the courts should be given the power to block trade deals with countries committing genocide was defeated 319 votes to 308 in the Commons last month.