Nikki da Costa was formerly Director of Legislative Affairs at Downing Street, and was the Conservative candidate for North East Hertfordshire at the general election.
The unprecedented size of Labour’s majority, on such a small vote share, must stiffen Conservative MPs’ resolve to hold Labour to account. They can form an effective fighting force if they are organised, exercise personal and collective discipline, and work as a team.
I do not underestimate the scale of the challenge. Opposition is tough, with few resources, and MPs are torn in a multitude of different directions. It would be extremely easy to be very busy for five years, whilst having little impact. But of the 121 MPs that grasp the chance, they will long stand out for having led by example.
Having served in the Opposition Whips Office as an adviser, and as Director of Legislative Affairs in Number 10, I’ve seen good and bad parliamentary operations. These are eight key areas I would focus on where the Conservative Party can build its reputation, even knowing it cannot defeat the Government numerically
Next week’s King’s Speech
Conservatives must provide principled opposition to what is and is not included, and focussing immediately on the bills walked in on the back of the King’s Speech.
We should expect six to eight bills to be introduced across the Commons and the Lords, and while some of them will be ‘housekeeping’ bills, there will be others that are highly political; unless the Government considerably pushes back the summer recess, most of those bills will only receive second reading before September.
Conservatives must use the summer months to go over those bills in detail, work out priorities, marshal third parties outside parliament, and think about a two-House strategy and crucially their key messages. A second wave of bills will follow in the autumn, a third wave in January, and so on. Each time the exercise must be repeated.
Sustained scrutiny of Bills
Typically, a bill will take between six and nine months to make it through Parliament, and each stage is an opportunity to repeatedly draw issues to the media and public’s attention. Commons and Lords teams need to work as one, thinking ahead and across political divides.
In the Commons, Public Bill Committees must be taken seriously so that issues are properly interrogated and when amendments are rejected – as the Government Committee majority will allow them to do – they are raised on the floor at Report Stage. We need targeted line-by-line scrutiny of every bill introduced. Training researchers to help with this will be key.
Opposition Days
Seventeen days are allocated to the Official Opposition. With two debates per day, that’s 34 opportunities to hammer key issues. This shouldn’t be left to Shadow Secretaries of State to simply bid for topics – it will skew the Conservative focus to the most proactive Shadow Cabinet members, rather than necessarily where there is strategic advantage. The Leader of the Opposition’s Office should look for the vulnerabilities and think ahead so they are always ready when debate time is offered.
I would also use these debates to give red meat to Conservative groups in local councils – how can a parliamentary operation combine with a council-focussed operation to show Tories across the country standing up on an issue?
Urgent Questions
When the Conservatives were last in Opposition Urgent Questions didn’t really feature, with less than ten granted per parliamentary session. Bercow’s tenure as Speaker changed things forever and in the last three full sessions under Sir Lindsay Hoyle’s speakership, ministers were summoned to the Commons 128 times on average.
These are opportunities not only to quiz ministers and increase media scrutiny, but also to showcase the shadow front bench. Shadow teams will need to be on the ball, writing tight submissions to the Speaker and getting them in early.
The Budget
It’s common practice for the Government to ensure that the resolutions on which the Finance Bill depends are largely unamendable.
They are not, however, able to avoid divisions on the dozens of taxation measures that will be included – usually there will be over 70 resolutions. Forcing a division on measures Conservatives – and the public – deeply oppose is critical in holding Labour MPs’ feet to the fire.
Select Committees
While these are unlikely to be up and running before the autumn, they are critical in holding the Government to account. The Conservatives will have the chairmanship of the Public Accounts Committee and the Committee on Standards and should be entitled to three more, negotiated in ‘Usual Channels’.
While committees are outside the Party structures, close working with chairs will be critical: they will each sit on the Liaison Committee and have significant profile.
Pay attention to statutory instruments
In volume terms, most legislative change is achieved through unamendable secondary legislation. The list of Statutory Instruments (SIs) laid before Parliament each week can feel impenetrable, but a good operation will draw attention to what could be sneaked under the radar and make a fuss.
While the Government doesn’t have to grant time to debate many of these statutory instruments, the team should hammer home how often the Government refuses – and why the public are now paying the price for such a large majority.
On key issues when policy work is still being undertaken behind closed doors, Shadow Ministers should push for updates and drafts to be shared with affected sectors, helping ensure that what does come before Parliament is significantly improved.
Private Members’ Bills
While some Private Members Bills do become law it is only usually with the support of the Government. As a result, ‘handout’ bills dominate – nominally fronted by a backbench MP they are in effect an extension of the Government’s programme, but with even less scrutiny.
But if an MP comes high in the ballot, particularly in the first seven slots, then the Government usually must come to the table in some way and negotiate.
This is an opportunity for Conservatives to make sure every MP puts their name in the ballot and put forward their own proposals. What are the four or five bills that resonate from the Conservative manifesto that Conservatives could push?
In addition, MPs should look to use everything from floor debates to parliamentary questions. Adjournment debates are good for constituency exposure, and both the Petitions Committee and the Backbench Business Committee offer further opportunities for floor debates on critical issues, and both have generated media and public interest previously.
In short, there are multiple opportunities to make the Government work and ensure that Parliament is effective. That work cannot wait until a new leader is appointed; it must begin now. And a new leader must pay careful attention to Whips Office appointments – those who know the Party and the parliamentary operation, and who can also ensure that all in the parliamentary party shoulder the burden.
Nikki da Costa was formerly Director of Legislative Affairs at Downing Street, and was the Conservative candidate for North East Hertfordshire at the general election.
The unprecedented size of Labour’s majority, on such a small vote share, must stiffen Conservative MPs’ resolve to hold Labour to account. They can form an effective fighting force if they are organised, exercise personal and collective discipline, and work as a team.
I do not underestimate the scale of the challenge. Opposition is tough, with few resources, and MPs are torn in a multitude of different directions. It would be extremely easy to be very busy for five years, whilst having little impact. But of the 121 MPs that grasp the chance, they will long stand out for having led by example.
Having served in the Opposition Whips Office as an adviser, and as Director of Legislative Affairs in Number 10, I’ve seen good and bad parliamentary operations. These are eight key areas I would focus on where the Conservative Party can build its reputation, even knowing it cannot defeat the Government numerically
Next week’s King’s Speech
Conservatives must provide principled opposition to what is and is not included, and focussing immediately on the bills walked in on the back of the King’s Speech.
We should expect six to eight bills to be introduced across the Commons and the Lords, and while some of them will be ‘housekeeping’ bills, there will be others that are highly political; unless the Government considerably pushes back the summer recess, most of those bills will only receive second reading before September.
Conservatives must use the summer months to go over those bills in detail, work out priorities, marshal third parties outside parliament, and think about a two-House strategy and crucially their key messages. A second wave of bills will follow in the autumn, a third wave in January, and so on. Each time the exercise must be repeated.
Sustained scrutiny of Bills
Typically, a bill will take between six and nine months to make it through Parliament, and each stage is an opportunity to repeatedly draw issues to the media and public’s attention. Commons and Lords teams need to work as one, thinking ahead and across political divides.
In the Commons, Public Bill Committees must be taken seriously so that issues are properly interrogated and when amendments are rejected – as the Government Committee majority will allow them to do – they are raised on the floor at Report Stage. We need targeted line-by-line scrutiny of every bill introduced. Training researchers to help with this will be key.
Opposition Days
Seventeen days are allocated to the Official Opposition. With two debates per day, that’s 34 opportunities to hammer key issues. This shouldn’t be left to Shadow Secretaries of State to simply bid for topics – it will skew the Conservative focus to the most proactive Shadow Cabinet members, rather than necessarily where there is strategic advantage. The Leader of the Opposition’s Office should look for the vulnerabilities and think ahead so they are always ready when debate time is offered.
I would also use these debates to give red meat to Conservative groups in local councils – how can a parliamentary operation combine with a council-focussed operation to show Tories across the country standing up on an issue?
Urgent Questions
When the Conservatives were last in Opposition Urgent Questions didn’t really feature, with less than ten granted per parliamentary session. Bercow’s tenure as Speaker changed things forever and in the last three full sessions under Sir Lindsay Hoyle’s speakership, ministers were summoned to the Commons 128 times on average.
These are opportunities not only to quiz ministers and increase media scrutiny, but also to showcase the shadow front bench. Shadow teams will need to be on the ball, writing tight submissions to the Speaker and getting them in early.
The Budget
It’s common practice for the Government to ensure that the resolutions on which the Finance Bill depends are largely unamendable.
They are not, however, able to avoid divisions on the dozens of taxation measures that will be included – usually there will be over 70 resolutions. Forcing a division on measures Conservatives – and the public – deeply oppose is critical in holding Labour MPs’ feet to the fire.
Select Committees
While these are unlikely to be up and running before the autumn, they are critical in holding the Government to account. The Conservatives will have the chairmanship of the Public Accounts Committee and the Committee on Standards and should be entitled to three more, negotiated in ‘Usual Channels’.
While committees are outside the Party structures, close working with chairs will be critical: they will each sit on the Liaison Committee and have significant profile.
Pay attention to statutory instruments
In volume terms, most legislative change is achieved through unamendable secondary legislation. The list of Statutory Instruments (SIs) laid before Parliament each week can feel impenetrable, but a good operation will draw attention to what could be sneaked under the radar and make a fuss.
While the Government doesn’t have to grant time to debate many of these statutory instruments, the team should hammer home how often the Government refuses – and why the public are now paying the price for such a large majority.
On key issues when policy work is still being undertaken behind closed doors, Shadow Ministers should push for updates and drafts to be shared with affected sectors, helping ensure that what does come before Parliament is significantly improved.
Private Members’ Bills
While some Private Members Bills do become law it is only usually with the support of the Government. As a result, ‘handout’ bills dominate – nominally fronted by a backbench MP they are in effect an extension of the Government’s programme, but with even less scrutiny.
But if an MP comes high in the ballot, particularly in the first seven slots, then the Government usually must come to the table in some way and negotiate.
This is an opportunity for Conservatives to make sure every MP puts their name in the ballot and put forward their own proposals. What are the four or five bills that resonate from the Conservative manifesto that Conservatives could push?
In addition, MPs should look to use everything from floor debates to parliamentary questions. Adjournment debates are good for constituency exposure, and both the Petitions Committee and the Backbench Business Committee offer further opportunities for floor debates on critical issues, and both have generated media and public interest previously.
In short, there are multiple opportunities to make the Government work and ensure that Parliament is effective. That work cannot wait until a new leader is appointed; it must begin now. And a new leader must pay careful attention to Whips Office appointments – those who know the Party and the parliamentary operation, and who can also ensure that all in the parliamentary party shoulder the burden.