Lording it up

‘The Lords is not like the Commons, they actually listen to what’s said before deciding how to vote,’ one peer told Inside Housing this week.

The lord was explaining how difficult it can be to predict the outcome of votes in the upper chamber, where there are more independent operators and members are not subject to the same level of whipping as the House of Commons.

Nevertheless, the fact that opposition has been slowly building in the Lords to measures in the Welfare Reform Bill has been obvious for weeks.

The government’s defeat on Wednesday on three votes relating to plans to restrict Employment and Support Allowance, which is paid to people who can’t work because of sickness or disability, has left the government with a headache. It has now lost four votes on the bill, which is a flagship piece of legislation for David Cameron’s government.

On the face of it, that the government is having problems with the bill is good news for those hoping for further amendments when the Lords move on to debate the total benefits cap on 23 January.

Unless changes are made to the way the cap is calculated, there is a good chance Liberal Democrat and Labour peers will join with crossbenchers to defeat the government again.

Each amendment would reduce the amount of savings the government is hoping to make by cutting expenditure and it is unlikely the treasury will allow the Department of Work and Pensions to forfeit the estimated £2 billion the measures would save.

The DWP will be keen to press on with the bill and will probably accept some of the amendments to prevent it from getting bogged down in parliament. The danger for the housing sector is that the government will accept amendments around ESA but overturn those relating to the housing benefit.