The Guardian view on the backbench revolt that never was

http://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2014/jul/10/guardian-view-backbench-revolt-never-was

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A funny thing happened in the House of Commons this afternoon. Or rather, like Sherlock Holmes and the dog that failed to bark in the night, a funny thing didn't happen. When the deputy speaker called time on a debate about the UK's justice and home affairs opt-outs under the Lisbon treaty, MPs said nothing. Although Conservative MPs had spent the previous three hours attacking the government's policy on European cooperation, none of them called for a vote. Instead the Commons moved seamlessly on to debate the closure of residential homes. Half an hour later, MPs adjourned for the weekend.

Here's why this is important. Under the Lisbon treaty, which Labour signed in 2007 and which came into force in 2009, the UK opted out of 133 home affairs and justice laws. Having reflected on the opt-outs, however, the government has decided to opt back in to 35 of them, judging such cooperation vital to UK national security. The lightning rod among these 35 measures is the European arrest warrant, which allows member states to have citizens from another member state arrested in their own countries. Committed Eurosceptic MPs hate this. They want all the opt-outs to be maintained, largely on sovereignty grounds, and partly for fear that the warrant is misused by some states. In a succession of speeches today, the usual suspects vented their anger at the government's decision.

Earlier in this parliament these MPs would have then forced a division. In 2011, 81 Tory backbenchers revolted on Europe. In 2013, the threat of more than 100 Tory MPs to vote for an amendment to the Queen's speech on the EU referendum issue forced David Cameron into a humiliating climbdown. Yet in recent months, Conservative backbench revolts have steadily shrunk in size, even though the danger from Ukip, the pretext for many such revolts, has not gone away. Today, although a revolt of "as many as 100 Tory MPs" had been threatened last week, there was not even a revolt at all. And this on an issue on which the UK was transferring powers to the EU, which for many Tories (and arguably under the European Union Act 2011) is the trigger for a referendum.

Pro-Europeans should welcome the sensible pragmatism of the government's opt-in approach on justice and home affairs – though not always the contents of every opt-in. Do not imagine, however, that this all heralds a new era of Conservative pragmatism on Europe. Tory Eurosceptics did nothing yesterday because they have their eyes on bigger prizes – an election victory in 2015 and a referendum to leave the EU in 2017. To that end, they are willing to cut Mr Cameron some slack now, so that they can pull the rope tight later on. Britain's place in the EU remains just as unsafe in Conservative hands today as it ever was.