In all, 53 Conservatives voted against the government on the issue - while an amendment, calling for a real-terms cut in spending between 2014 and 2020, was passed by 307 votes to 294.
The defeat is a major blow for David Cameron, who will attend key talks later this month on the continent, but the Prime Minister could hardly say he could not see this coming.
Unrest among the Eurosceptic wing of the Conservative party has been building for some time and Mr Cameron seems just like yet another Tory PM who cannot manage this admittedly difficult issue.
Certainly, that was the impression which Labour leader Ed Miliband wished the cast upon his opposite number at Prime Minister's Questions on Wednesday.
Mr Miliband said: "[Mr Cameron] can't convince European leaders, he can't even convince his own backbenchers. He is weak abroad, he is weak at home: It's John Major all over again."
Mr Miliband was, of course, referring to a former Conservative PM who memorably suffered a series of rebellions over the EU Maastricht Treaty in the 1990s.
Back then, every Commons defeat seemed worse than the last for Mr Major - and, ultimately, the revolts all combined to destroy further the credibility in his pathetically weak administration, and hasten the era of New Labour.
However, this was the same New Labour which agreed an above-inflation increase in the budget during the most recent negotiations in 2005 when the UK also held the presidency of the EU.
And, while it can be argued that times are very different now, the unprincipled and opportunistic nature of Labour's opposition did not give the best impression, even on its own side.
Former Culture minister Margaret Hodge described the vote as "hateful" and "outrageous", although she would later go through the division lobbies with other Labour MPs.
Ultimately, the vote was not binding on ministers and, furthermore, it must be said that Mr Cameron is actually dealing in reality - even if this is not a reality which the majority of MPs, or indeed a majority of the country, wishes to accept.
The Prime Minister knows that the lack of support among other EU nations for a real-terms cut means it would be nigh on impossible to achieve anyway.
Also, to his credit, Mr Cameron has at least threatened to veto any budget deal if he feels he could not get a good deal for Britain.
Of course, that is nowhere near enough for some - and the Prime Minister's apparent powerlessness in Europe has sent a section of voters scampering to the famously Eurosceptic UK Independence Party (UKIP).
Indeed, in one recent poll, UKIP was comfortably beating the Liberal Democrats into third place - and continued pressure by UKIP and Eurosceptic Tories has even put an in-out referendum on the EU back on the agenda.
Now, at this stage, nobody should not get too excited - or, alternatively, too downbeat. Any referendum on Britain's place in Europe is unlikely to happen until after the next general election in 2015.
But the possibility that one is even on the cards is a success for the Eurosceptics, all of whom will undoubtedly not be shy to bloody Mr Cameron's nose again, given the opportunity.
Back to the present, and the dissent over Europe in the Conservative party has not reached John Major levels yet.
However, the schism remains a considerable obstacle to Mr Cameron's aim for an overall majority at the next general election, especially if UKIP remains quite so prevalent on the scene...
CONSERVATIVE REBELS
On Wednesday night, 53 Tory MPs rebelled against their party whip to vote on an amendment tabled by Conservative Mark Reckless calling for a real-terms cut in the EU budget. They were named in Hansard as follows:
Steven Baker (Wycombe)
John Baron (Basildon and Billericay)
Andrew Bingham (High Peak)
Brian Binley (Northampton South)
Peter Bone (Wellingborough)
Andrew Bridgen (North West Leicestershire)
Aidan Burley (Cannock Chase)
Conor Burns (Bournemouth West)
Douglas Carswell (Clacton)
Bill Cash (Stone)
Christopher Chope (Christchurch)
James Clappison (Hertsmere)
Tracey Crouch (Chatham & Aylesford)
Philip Davies (Shipley)
David Davis (Haltemprice and Howden)
Nick de Bois (Enfield North)
Nadine Dorries (Mid-Bedfordshire)
Richard Drax (Dorset South)
Zac Goldsmith (Richmond Park)
James Gray (Wiltshire North)
Chris Heaton-Harris (Daventry)
Gordon Henderson (Sittingbourne and Sheppey)
Philip Hollobone (Kettering)
Adam Holloway (Gravesham)
Stewart Jackson (Peterborough)
Bernard Jenkin (Harwich and Essex North)
Chris Kelly (Dudley South)
Edward Leigh (Gainsborough)
Julian Lewis (New Forest East)
Jack Lopresti (Filton and Bradley Stoke)
Karl McCartney (Lincoln),
Stephen McPartland (Stevenage),
Anne Main (St Albans),
Nigel Mills (Amber Valley)
David Nuttall (Bury North)
Andrew Percy (Brigg and Goole)
Mark Pritchard (Wrekin)
Mark Reckless (Rochester and Strood)
John Redwood (Wokingham)
Simon Reevell (Dewsbury)
Laurence Robertson (Tewkesbury)
Andrew Rosindell (Romford)
David Ruffley (Bury St Edmunds)
Richard Shepherd (Aldridge-Brownhills)
Henry Smith (Crawley)
Bob Stewart (Beckenham)
Sir Peter Tapsell (Louth and Horncastle)
Andrew Turner (Isle of Wight)
Martin Vickers (Cleethorpes)
James Wharton (Stockton South)
Heather Wheeler (Derbyshire South)
John Whittingdale (Maldon)
Sarah Wollaston (Totnes)
No comments:
Post a Comment