Stephen Crabb: Cross-party consensus favouring amendment he voted
against

THE LAST week has seen causes close to the hearts of many people receive support from somewhat unlikely quarters.
Last Tuesday, (Conservative) MPs voted against a proposed amendment to the finance bill, which would have forced George Osborne to outline a strategy for negotiating with the EU to remove the 5% VAT from tampons.
In the end, only three Conservative MPs voted in favour of the amendment, but prior to the vote, rumours of strong cross-party support for the amendment were rife, and commentators believed that Eurosceptic Tories would vote against the party line and follow their own agenda, as UKIP’s solitary MP did.
It will be interesting to see how many times Douglas Carswell votes in favour of a motion put forward by a Labour MP who has described herself as a ‘feminist and Trade Unionist’ in the future.
The three Conservatives who defied the Whip – Philip Davies, Philip Hollobone and David Nuttall, are all confirmed opponents of Britain remaining in the EU. Their vote in this matter, like that of Carswell, would appear to be an attempt to put Mr Osborne in a position where he was unable to secure EU approval, which would serve to highlight perceived problems with Britain’s EU membership ahead of a referendum.
The reasons given by Conservative MPs for voting against the amendment made for amusing reading. Realising, perhaps, that around half of their constituents were female, they queued up to tell local papers that they were in favour of reducing VAT for tampons – even though they voted against an amendment which was specifically about doing just that.
A Herald journalist contacted Stephen Crabb to ask his reasons for voting against the amendment The Secretary of State for Wales said that there was ‘cross party consensus’ that the UK should be able to abolish VAT on sanitary products.
“Ministers are about to commence discussions with the European Commission and other EU Member States.
“Given that the Minister has already promised to report back to the House of Commons on these negotiations, the amendment was unnecessary and so I voted against.”
The prospect of a Labour amendment succeeding presumably did not cross Mr Crabb’s mind when he cast his vote. The same could not be said for Gower’s Byron Davies, who was happy to say: “People also need to realise that it’s not that I voted against the abolition of the tax. I’m all for abolishing the tax or at least making it lower.
“But, I am a member of the Conservative Party; hence I am unable to vote in favour of a motion proposed by Labour.”
Mr Davies also said: “There is a lot of miscommunication around this issue at the moment.
“The decision to lower the VAT on sanitary items is not within the power of the UK government. This power lies with the European Union, who introduced the tax because they are not considered essential items.”
Whether or not this is the result of miscommunication, the amendment quite clearly stated that:
“Within three months of the passing of this Act, the Chancellor of the Exchequer shall lay before both Houses of Parliament a statement on his strategy to negotiate with the EU institution an exemption from VAT for women’s sanitary protection products.”
As such, arguing that it is not within the power of a UK government seems to be a flawed premise. However, it is one shared by Conservative MP for Monmouth David Davies, who also voted against the amendment.
“The problem is we’ve got the ludicrous EU regulations. They’ve got to change,” he told a local newspaper.
“People blame the government for things like this, but we don’t have any control over it.
“It’s something we need to bear in mind when there’s a referendum on our EU membership.”
It is perhaps surprising that David Davies voted against this amendment, given that he is willing to support other groups with, shall we say, differing political beliefs against the common enemy that is the EU.
The People’s NHS Wales have been vocally campaigning for the NHS to be made exempt from the Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (TTIP). Readers in Pembrokeshire will be aware of their numerous attempts to meet with Stephen Crabb to discuss the issue with him, including attending two (cancelled) constituency surgeries.
The People’s NHS is fiercely critical of NHS privatisation, and the current Conservative government. The Welsh group has been attempting to raise the profile of TTIP, and the possible effects that privatisation in England could have on the Barnett differentials for Wales, as well as the risk that any privatisation would be irreversible.
This would, on the face of it, appear to be a fairly socialist agenda, in that it encourages government spending in the public sector. However, Mr Davies has lent the group his support, and has written what the People’s NHS Wales describe as a ‘strongly worded letter’ to the Minister for Trade and Investment calling for the Government to ensure that the NHS is protected.
In his letter to Francis Maude, Mr Davies said: “I therefore hope the UK government will call on the EU to change the wording of the TTIP proposal in a way that would rule out the privatisation of the NHS. If the EU ignores our wishes as is sadly possible, then I will advise all those who have lobbied me to take account of this when they vote on Britain’s membership of the EU in the forthcoming referendum.”
The wording of this missive carefully avoids making any reference to the role of the Conservative Party in this matter, or that one of the main concerns of the People’s NHS is that the Conservative Government will use TTIP as a means to a programme of privatisation which will be irreversible as a consequence of multinational companies being given the power to sue governments which make decisions that cost them money.
It appears that, to the hardened Eurosceptic, any cause that furthers the ‘Brexit’ agenda is to be championed regardless.