BRUSSELS NOTEBOOK: MPs may regret not backing amendment

According to Otto von Bismarck, who ruled Prussia back in the mid-1800s, politics is the ‘art of the possible’ – the attainable or next best rather than perfection.
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As coronavirus continues to take its toll, with worse economic news emerging daily as the crisis gives way to a new normality, politics increasingly seems the art of the impossible.

For now Westminster politicians are hung up on whether a Downing Street adviser should stay or go. In the scheme of things it does not really matter which he does, although giving Dominic Cummings the benefit of the doubt was probably a bad call by Boris Johnson. This is an issue that will not go away for Johnson, and he may yet regret misjudging the mood of many in his own party.

Another issue politicians may regret is their decision to reject the suggestion that UK food standards should have legal protection. Some local Westminster MPs have justified their decision to vote against an Agriculture Bill amendment that would have protected agriculture in trade negotiations. Farm lobby organisations were wise enough to see government promises to maintain standards for what they are – something that will be whittled away in trade negotiations, particularly with the United States.

MPs from here suggested there was little point in voting against a government with a massive majority. That might be true, but on that basis there is little point in participating in any debates, on grounds that you accept you are beaten before you start. This was an ideal opportunity to put a shot across the government’s bows – to underline it would not have things its own way in trade negotiations, whether with the EU-27 or the rest of the world. In Scotland, the SNP is securing political advantage by highlighting this as evidence that Conservatives do not care about the interests of rural Scotland.

This was not an amendment from an extremist on the left. It came from one of the best Conservative MPs not to be in government. Neil Parish is a farmer and the former very good chairman of the European parliament’s agriculture committee. It was an amendment that made sense and it was eminently supportable by any MP not bound by cabinet responsibility rules. The failure to back it is all the more to be regretted amidst rumours that Liz Truss, the minister responsible for trade negotiations beyond the EU, is hinting that she will not allow a deal with the US to be blocked over food standards. That may or may not be true, in the rumour mill that is life in the Westminster bubble. However the suggestion is logical. If cheap food imports damage agriculture here those representing rural areas may have to revisit their political judgement about not backing the amendment. Sometimes the art of the possible in politics is about doing the right thing rather than embracing the expedient option.

The EU opened its financial coffers this week with ambitious and very costly plans to support economic recovery after coronavirus. At one level this is about the need to get businesses and markets operating again within the context of a single market. However the politics behind it are more subtle. Brussels wants to head off any suggestion European unity has been weakened. There are concerns a poor response would drive other member states to follow the UK out of the EU. Instead Fortress Europe has been seen to rise to a huge challenge.

This opens up clear differences with the UK. The EU has achieved some unity of approach between 27 countries, but London cannot even manage that with the devolved administrations of the UK. The bullish Johnson approach to easing the lock-down has been rejected in Edinburgh, Cardiff and Belfast. The government has been seeking to up the Brexit stakes by suggesting it will walk away if Brussels does not negotiate more seriously. These comments lack conviction. If the EU can come up with a trillion euro recovery plan, it can find ways to live with UK deciding to go it alone on trade. The architect of the UK Brexit negotiations, Michael Gove, is a political pragmatist. He must know that in any game talking up your game-plan does not change a weak hand. Only when the UK has an economic recovery plan will it be in a position to really go head to head with Brussels.