This afternoon the Prime Minster appears before the Liaison Committee for the second time this Parliament – giving the Chairs of Commons select committees the opportunity to grill him on the issues surrounding the European Union referendum. Hannah White considers what we can tell from the Prime Minister’s appearance.
The exchange of letters published by the Liaison Committee makes it obvious that the Prime Minister was initially unwilling to appear in advance of the EU referendum. This initial response was entirely consistent with the Government’s unwritten policy of avoiding any unnecessary parliamentary business that might touch on Europe ahead of 23 June. Given the weight of pro-Brexit MPs on the Liaison Committee, the prospect of an appearance was understandably unattractive. And the sight of other key players in the referendum debate struggling in the face of questioning from the Treasury Committee – chaired by Andrew Tyrie, the new Chair of the Liaison Committee – must have made it more unappealing still.
But there is a clear rationale for the Prime Minister to discuss the EU before the Liaison Committee. One of Parliament’s key roles is to provide a forum for debate of the big issues facing the nation. While the Government has made its case for remaining in the EU in various parliamentary forums, none of these have permitted the detailed scrutiny and discussion that is possible in a committee setting.
The Liaison Committee is the obvious forum for such committee scrutiny. It would have been invidious for the Prime Minister to choose to appear before one departmental committee or another, and a disproportionate use of his time to appear before several. What is more, individual departmental committees have taken inconsistent approaches to the EU in this Parliament. Some (for example, the Business, Innovation & Skills Committee) have clearly decided that because they are unlikely to be able to agree a report on the issue, it is better not to conduct an inquiry at all. Others (for example, the Foreign Affairs Committee) have accepted that they will not be able to agree on the merits of EU membership – but decided it is nonetheless valuable to take evidence and provide ‘unbiased analysis’ to inform the public debate. We have previously argued that this is an approach select committees should more often take on contentious issues. Still, other committees have sought to actually report on the merits of EU membership in their area – thereby choosing to expose disagreements within the committee (such as the Rt Hon Peter Lilley’s minority report to the Environmental Audit Committee’s report on EU and UK environmental policy).
One of the Liaison Committee’s formal roles is ‘to take evidence from the Prime Minister on matters of public policy’. Past sessions have worked best when the committee has focused on policy areas with two key characteristics: cross-cutting issues in which several different committees have taken an interest; and issues for which David Cameron has taken personal responsibility for delivery. EU membership meets both these tests.
The merit of the Liaison Committee scrutiny should be that each Chair will bring expertise from their committee’s work in a specific policy area. Today’s session will be an important test of whether – when the subject under scrutiny is one on which every Chair also holds strong personal views – the Liaison Committee can still function as a ‘calm and rational’ forum for examining the arguments at play.
Cameron’s decision to appear today demonstrates the growing power of the Liaison Committee as a parliamentary player under its new Chair. Andrew Tyrie is taking the same approach to the Liaison Committee as he has to the Treasury Committee – asserting its role as a key agent of scrutiny, and seeking the resources and opportunities to allow it to demonstrate the value it can add.
Appearing before the Liaison Committee demonstrates the Prime Minister’s acceptance of the role that Tyrie wants the committee to play. As we have argued previously, in addition to prime ministerial scrutiny, the Liaison Committee should take a greater role in driving improvements in scrutiny across the select committee system. It is occasions such as today that provide the Liaison Committee with the opportunity to gain the legitimacy to take such work forward.