Lord Callanan: “We need to lift our eyes to the horizon and look at the future”
10 min read
Shepherding the EU Withdrawal Bill through the House of Lords is no easy task, and it’s keeping Lord Callanan up at night. But despite the long hours, constant challenges and bruising defeats, the Brexit Minister is optimistic that rebel Conservative peers will reconsider their position and toe the party line. Matt Foster meets the man determined to make the government’s Brexit plans possible
It has, Lord Callanan admits, been a pretty intense few weeks in the House of Lords. As the minister tasked with steering the government’s Brexit plans through the upper chamber, the 56-year-old native of the North East has been burning the midnight oil as he tries to convince rebellious peers to back the flagship EU Withdrawal Bill. One eye-popping Hansard entry from the Bill’s Committee stage says it all: “House adjourned at 2.36 am.”
“We’ve been having some late nights and some early mornings,” the minister of state tells The House as we sit down in his office overlooking 10 Downing Street. But it’s a workload Callanan says he relishes. “It’s a fascinating exercise in Parliamentary accountability. We’ve had 150 hours of debates so far in the Lords on this, at Second Reading, Committee and now on Report. So it’s a gruelling Parliamentary timetable. But I’m enjoying it.”
The minister has certainly got his work cut out convincing the upper House to side with the government on the EU Withdrawal Bill, a mammoth piece of legislation that not only repeals the European Communities Act but brings all EU legislation into UK law to avoid regulatory chaos on exit day. When we meet, the Bill has just undergone a bruising few days of Report Stage, with the government losing votes on everything from the continued application of the EU’s Charter of Fundamental Rights, to its post-Brexit plans for the environmental, consumer and employment protections drawn up in Brussels.
But it’s a high-profile defeat on the customs union - with Conservative rebels and independent crossbenchers teaming up to urge the government not to rule out continued membership of the EU’s tariff-free zone - that’s generated the most heat. In total, 24 Tories – including former ministers like Lord Deben, Lord Willetts and Baroness Altmann – broke ranks to back the amendment, unleashing the fury of die-hard Brexiteers and potentially giving pro-Remain MPs cover to stage their own rebellion when the bill returns to the Commons.
For all the noise around the defeats, however, the former MEP seems relaxed, arguing that bumps in the road are to be expected with a Bill of this scale. “You know, this is very contentious legislation,” he says. “It’s a key element of implementing Brexit – on which people have very strong feelings. So, given the number of speeches we had at second reading, it was obvious that there was going to be a great interest in the bill, and that’s proved true at report.”
The Brexit minister strikes a less conciliatory tone, however, when asked to give his verdict on the Conservatives who defied the three-line whip on the customs union. “It’s extremely disappointing that they have chosen to back the opposition on this,” he says. “You know, it was a commitment in the Conservative Party manifesto at the last election that we would be implementing the results of Brexit, that we would be leaving the single market and that we would be leaving the customs union. So I’m obviously disappointed that they have chosen not to back their party on this.”
The minister, a longstanding believer that Britain really will be better off outside the EU, says Theresa May did not “pluck a position out of thin air” when she ruled out continued membership of the customs union, and argues that there are “good, hard-edged economic reasons” for quitting the pact if Brexit is to succeed.
“People have taken a decision in the referendum to leave the European Union and this is about the best way of implementing that,” he says. “Contracting the whole of our trade policy to the European Commission – including all our tariff revenues – means they would have total control of UK trade policy, total control of our tariff schedules, and, effectively the ability to sell access to UK markets to other countries around the world in trade deals when we wouldn’t necessarily get reciprocal access in exchange. That is a very bad deal, and I’m obviously disappointed that more people didn’t see the strength of our case on this one in the vote.”
That is, of course, not a view shared by those peers who defied the government, and who argued that ruling out customs union membership will make it much more difficult to avoid a return to a hard border in Northern Ireland, while hobbling exports to the UK’s largest market by guaranteeing they’ll face new tariffs.
With tensions running high, former Conservative chair Lord Patten summed up the mood among Tory rebels on the issue and committed himself to the long haul when he said: “There are times in one’s political career when what is alleged to be party loyalty comes way behind trying to stand up for the national interest. I intend to do that on this amendment and elsewhere on report, and in doing that I think I will be repeating what I would have been able to say with the full support of my party for most of the time I have been a member of it.”
But, with the prospect of protracted back and forth between the Lords and the Commons now looming, Callanan remains optimistic that rebel peers will eventually back down. “I hope they’ll be convinced by the strength of our case, by the arguments that we’re putting forward and, you know, recognise that this was a commitment in the manifesto on which the party was elected,” he says. “They are senior members of the party, they understand how seriously these things should be taken. So I hope they will reconsider their position.”
It’s been just over a year since Theresa May made her fateful decision to call a snap election with a warning that “unelected members of the House of Lords” had “vowed to fight the government every step of the way” in a bid to thwart ministers’ Brexit plans. With that kind of rhetoric emanating from the top of government as well as the pages of some national newspapers it’s little surprise that rebel peers feel somewhat besieged as they push for changes to the Withdrawal Bill.
While Callanan is clear that “there are one or two Lords members who clearly do want to use the Bill as a means of trying to obstruct Brexit”, he is keen to stress that he’s not one of those in his party who believes the upper chamber is stuffed full of Remoaners looking for any excuse to blow a hole in the government’s plans.
“My experience is that the vast majority of peers are taking a constructive role, they are seeking to engage, they are seeking to raise concerns about the technical aspects of the bill.” he says. “We’re responding to that. That’s how the normal parliamentary process works and most members of the Lords are being responsible about it. Yes, they’re pushing their various views and we are responding to them. But, you know, I wouldn’t go as far as some of the media commentators are in criticising the Lords. It has a proper constitutional role and so far they’ve been following it.”
He says his own discussions with Number 10 show that they “accept the role of the Lords”, and points out that the very process of tabling government amendments to the Withdrawal Bill has called for interaction with the upper chamber right across Whitehall. “The government as a whole is content to engage with the Lords in its proper constitutional role,” he says. Indeed, the day after The House spoke to Callanan the minister tabled a weighty amendment to the Bill, scrapping an entire clause that would have given ministers the power to set up new public bodies post-Brexit without fully consulting Parliament.
Callanan points out that the government has already made around 100 such changes to the Bill in direct response to the concerns that peers have raised. He vows to continue listening – so long as the upper House keeps its focus on genuinely refining and improving the Bill rather than seeking to shift the UK’s negotiating stance. “Where people have serious concerns on matters that the bill is dealing with, on the technicalities of leaving, I think we’ve shown that we are approachable, and that we’ve listened,” he says. “We’ve tabled a load more amendments for next week’s sittings and, you know, we’re seeking to take account of the views of Parliamentarians throughout the process as we did in the House of Commons. And I think our record in terms of adapting the legislation to take account of their concerns shows that.”
Some Conservative rebels, however, remain unconvinced by the minister’s reassurances. One tells The House: “One can only admire his strong constitution, but unfortunately his understanding of our constitution leaves a little to be desired.”
And while fellow Tory dissenter and former minister Baroness Altmann acknowledges that Callanan has “a very tough job to do”, she rejects the suggestion from some that the Brexit rebels are tinkering with the bill simply to score points.
“I believe – absolutely – that those of us in the Lords who are voting against the government do so with a heavy heart. We don’t want to defy a three-line whip. But actually, that is what we are in the Lords to do. We are in there to have a look at the legislation that comes across to us, to use our best judgment and expertise to assess whether that legislation is fit for purpose in the national interest.”
She adds: “We will not make the final decisions – I’m clear on that. We are an advisory chamber. We are asking the Commons to reconsider. But we are not defying the people and we’re not even defying the Commons – we’re fulfilling our role.”
With the tumultuous report stage nearing its end, Callanan could certainly be forgiven for taking some time off to catch up on a bit of sleep and make use of his highly-prized Newcastle United season ticket. But with other big Brexit votes looming – including on the withdrawal agreement itself – it’s clear he’ll be leading the charge in the upper chamber for some time to come. “I don’t think it’s going to get any easier,” he chuckles.
In his former life as an MEP, Callanan relished the chance to take pot-shots at the Brussels establishment as he led David Cameron’s breakaway European Conservatives and Reformists group.
It’s perhaps not surprising, then, that this plain-speaking political veteran – who says he admires Margaret Thatcher for her “single-mindedness” – has found himself at odds with those on the red benches. But despite the political firefights he sometimes finds himself in, Callanan says it’s vital not to get bogged down in the “day to day rough and tumble of politics” – and it’s clear he won’t stop trying to make positive case for Brexit.
“People always respond to the latest political concerns – and of course because all of the legislation is going through parliament that’s what everyone’s focus is on. But sometimes I think we need to lift our eyes to the horizon and to look at the future.
“The reason that many of us campaigned for Brexit is because we thought that we could be economically better off, the country could be more successful outside the European Union while still enjoying good relations with European Union members. There’s a big wide world out there and we could make a success of it. I think we have to show that we can do that.”
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