There was no slowing down in Westminster this week despite the impending Christmas break, with an action packed week of promises, policies and defeats.
The coalition received its 100th defeat of the Parliament this week, an unwelcome record for Mr Cameron and Mr Clegg. This week saw the Lords block the Criminal Justice and Courts Bill over concerns that the bill would limit the ability of the courts to challenge potentially unlawful Government decisions. The vote will almost certainly lead to a protracted series of votes, no doubt an unwelcome distraction for the Justice Secretary Chris Grayling and the rest of the Cabinet.
Labour sought to capitalise on their key polling asset, trust in handling the NHS, with Andy Burnham promising a series of ambitious measures to improve cancer care. At the Britain against Cancer meeting Mr Burnham added to previous pledges of a one week cancer test with proposals to create a Cancer Therapy Fund. This fund would succeed the current Cancer Drugs Fund by increasing access to radiotherapy and stereotactic ablative radiotherapy to all cancer patients.
With David Cameron abroad, we were denied our weekly confrontation with Ed Miliband, but Harriet Harman managed to add a little more pressure on Nick Clegg. However, Mr Miliband didn’t let the week pass without taking aim at the Conservatives, laying out Labour’s promise to eliminate the deficit while avoiding the ‘ideological’ Conservatives cuts. Promising to cut the ‘current deficit’ while maintaining NHS spending, the speech did little to address the underlying scepticism of Labour’s ability to manage the economy and will probably not silence the doubters.
However, despite the serious battles of the main Westminster parties, the new kids on the block have decided to embrace the pantomime spirit with a farce of their own. Outlandish statement on immigration slowing down traffic? Check. Allegations of sexual misconduct? Check. Concerns over expenses and rigging of candidate selection? Check. A public battle with comedian? Check. The only thing missing this week was a loud shout of “He’s behind behind you”, although with 11 days to go until Christmas we can live in hope.