Parliamentary aide to Vince Cable resigns over anti-fracking stance
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Version 0 of 1. A parliamentary aide to Vince Cable has resigned after she voted against the government to support a moratorium on fracking. In a sign of how the coalition is rewriting the rules of collective responsibility, Tessa Munt took 24 hours to leave the government after defying a three-line whip in Monday’s debate on the infrastructure bill. Ministers and parliamentary private secretaries who vote against the government usually resign before the vote or are sacked immediately if they decline to go. The MP for Wells, who is a strong opponent of fracking in Somerset, tweeted: “Confirm resigned as PPS to FAB VC. Proud to vote anti #fracking and will continue to campaign. Sign and share petition.” Munt took her time to resign because the deputy prime minister, Nick Clegg, and Cable appeared to take a relaxed view of her decision to abstain in two votes on fracking on Monday and to vote against the government in a third vote on a backbench amendment. This would have imposed a moratorium on fracking. The Lib Dems appeared to take little action on Tuesday until Munt’s vote was raised at the afternoon lobby briefing with the prime minister’s spokesman. A spokeswoman for Cable said later: “Tessa Munt has resigned from her position as parliamentary private secretary (PPS) to Vince Cable. Both the secretary of state for business [Cable] and the deputy prime minister thank Tessa for the work she has done in government but understand her strength of feeling on this issue and have, therefore, accepted her resignation.” Munt said she voted against the government – and in favour of imposing a moratorium on fracking – after attempts to negotiate a compromise failed. In a blog, posted before her resignation, she wrote: “Over the last years, months, weeks and days, I have been completely clear that I could not support fracking. I have tried to force a rethink and as a result of many conversations and negotiations, a new clause strengthening the rules and regulations around fracking was accepted by government ministers and has been included in the bill. “The improvements are a significant achievement and move the bill in the right direction. Nonetheless, I continued to push for an outright ban on fracking.” Munt attacked Labour for failing to support the backbench amendment which would have imposed a moratorium on fracking. She tweeted on Monday night: “Proud to have voted for #fracking moratorium today. Labour have lost all credibility. Tough talk then sat on hands & let the bill pass.” |