Dominic raab

So Labour did save the government's bacon by voting against the Raab amendment on deportation while the government abstained on it. 97 MPs backed Dominic Raab's amendment with the two tellers, that's 99 MPs): a very clear message to ministers. This includes 86 Conservatives, according to the vote analysis, and 9 Labour MPs. The Mills amendment wasn't voted on, so we'll never know how successful the whips were in driving that rebellion to ground. There are a number of things that are remarkable about this. The first is the utter disorganisation not just within the parties but also across the parties. The Opposition decided to vote against something that the government told them was illegal but the government itself did not vote against it. Which makes the government look confused at best.

Labour will not support Dominic Raab's Immigration Bill amendment on the deportation of foreign criminals. A party source tells me that 'if the government are saying that something is illegal, then we can't support it'. Which will come as a relief to the whips, given the level of support for the proposal. I also hear that the Tory whips seriously intend that the amendment never reaches a vote in the first place, using the plethora of government amendments and ministers talking until the time limit on debate for the legislation is reached. This will cause uproar, but well-placed sources tell me the whips are determined that this amendment is not debated for a second time. Talks are continuing today between David Cameron and Nick Clegg on Stephen Phillips' amendments.

How will the row over the Immigration Bill pan out? Number 10 was trying to be as emollient as possible yesterday, saying it would look at all amendments, while I understand that Dominic Raab's deportation amendment has strong private support at Cabinet level. Ministers do, though, understand that Theresa May is starting to worry that she won't get her Bill through the House of Commons and House of Lords in time for it to become an Act, and so are leaving her be on the deportation side of things, but there could still be a scenario where PPSs demand to be able to support it, as they did last time. It is difficult to find anyone in the Conservative party who doesn't support it (although Ken Clarke is keeping quiet).

The list of MPs supporting Dominic Raab's amendment on deportation to the Immigration Bill has now been published, and as predicted, it contains some very big names indeed. Andrew Mitchell has signed, along with 1922 Committee chairman Graham Brady, former policing minister Nick Herbert, former justice minister Crispin Blunt, and Labour grandees such as David Blunkett and Hazel Blears. There are currently 104 MPs signed up to support the amendment: the majority of them Conservative. It calls for foreign criminals to only avoid deportation if they risk being killed or tortured on their return. The last time this amendment was due to be debated as part of the Crime and Courts Bill, PPSs demanded to be able to support it without getting into trouble.

The row over the past few weeks over the Immigration Bill has been rather ironic given it was introduced in part to calm Tory backbench nerves. Those nerves were over two issues: Bulgarian and Romanian migrants, and deportation, and while the Mills amendment which addresses the former remains on the order paper, albeit with some rival amendments aimed at siphoning off support, there is another big revolt on the way on the latter. Dominic Raab has tabled another amendment which has the support of more than 100 MPs on deportation. It is essentially a repeat of the amendment he tabled to the Crime and Courts Bill, and means that foreign criminals can only avoid deportation if they risk being killed or tortured on their return.

The Chancellor’s Autumn Statement is looming on the horizon, and the Free Enterprise Group, the loose alliance of backbench Tory MPs, laid out its proposed economic reforms at the Institute for Economic Affairs earlier today. The group sees the economic recovery as an opportunity to address some of the underlying challenges in the British economy before the general election. The group urged the Chancellor not to play safe, and proposed seven stimulatory tax cuts to benefit those on low and middle incomes: the so-called ‘squeezed middle’. 1). Create a single VAT rate of 15% – revenue neutral (Kwasi Kwarteng) 2). Move the majority of the cost of green levies onto general taxation with the aim of abolishing those taxes in the long run - £2.

The Treasury is entering its last minute negotiations with recalcitrant departments ahead of next week's spending review announcement. But for all the talk of 'difficult decisions', the settlement doesn't look as though it will take some of the more difficult decisions about the shape of government itself. In a Free Enterprise Group paper published today, Tory MP Dominic Raab argues that ministers should be looking for savings by scrapping departments altogether, not coming to settlements which merely maintain the current messy setup. Raab argues that Britain has many more government departments than other developed countries such as the US, Germany and Sweden.

Coffee House has learned that a Tory MP is engaged in a fight with the Home Office on safeguards for its proposed 'snooping bill'. The fate of the Draft Communications Data Bill could be decided on Tuesday when a cross-party committee reports back on the legislation. Nick Clegg is already reported to be considering dropping the Liberal Democrats' support for the Bill, and the joint committee's report is expected to take a negative view of the proposals. One Liberal Democrat member, Lord Strasburger, told Home Secretary Theresa May that the proposals for monitoring internet users' records were a 'honeypot for casual hackers, blackmailers, criminals large and small from around the world, and foreign states'.

The Commons will debate the UK’s controversial extradition treaty with the US and the European Arrest Warrant later today. The debate has been brought by Dominic Raab MP. He was on the Today programme this morning, explaining that he wanted to introduce a ‘forum clause’ to the UK-US treaty. Forum is a principle that could apply in cross-border cases like Gary McKinnon’s, which Raab has been championing. Raab wants to end the ‘sort of haggling between prosecutors behind closed doors’ that governs extraditions at present, and reform the process by placing it before open court in Britain. He argues that numerous other countries enjoy such an arrangement with the US, why shouldn’t its ‘stalwart’ British allies?

In the latest issue of the magazine, a flock of politicians, commentators and economists offers George Osborne some advice for growing the economy. There are ten contributions in total, but here are three for CoffeeHousers' consideration: Arthur Laffer Chairman, Laffer Associates Cut the 50p tax Reducing the burden which government places on the economy, through tax cuts, is the surest way to promote growth. I have never heard of a country that taxed itself into prosperity. Yet Britain last year raised the top rate of income tax from 40 per cent to 50 per cent. For more economic growth, and more tax revenue, this rate should be lowered immediately.