Tory bid to axe Commons break for Lib-Dem conference

Tories are planning a humiliating slapdown to their former Liberal Democrat partners by refusing to stop Parliament for their party conference.

A senior Conservative told the Standard ministers were questioning if it was worth halting debates for a party that has “just eight MPs”.

This year Parliament broke up for conferences on September 17 in time for the Lib-Dem gathering. But one proposal could see next year’s break pushed back to cover Labour, Tory and SNP conferences instead.

Former Lib-Dem minister Norman Lamb said: “It would be an act of outrageous vindictiveness, quite extraordinary from a party that we worked with in coalition.

“The brutal truth is that the Lib-Dems, even with reduced seats, secured vastly more votes than the SNP.”

Parliament returns on October 12 and the SNP, which has 56 MPs, will have its conference from October 15 to 17. An SNP spokesperson said: “We welcome the acknowledgement that the SNP is the UK’s third biggest political party — but all parties should aim to have as much of their conference business as possible at weekends to minimise the impact on the Commons.”