Newington's Patrick Traynor looks ahead to the next fortnight in Westminster and the issues we can expect to dominate the political agenda.

Brexit

The European Union (Notification of Withdrawal) Bill will once again take centre stage in Parliament. Whilst the Bill moved to second reading with the support of the majority of Conservative and Labour MPs, this week the Government’s slim majority could be tested as amendments put forward by the more Europhile MPs are debated. For any amendment to be successful, it will require the support of not only Labour, SNP and the Liberal Democrats but a number of Conservative rebels. At the time of writing, none of the amendments have managed to attract the required level of support.  Following recess (09.02.17 – 20.02.17) , the Bill will move to the House of Lords, where the Government does not have a majority. Any amendments put forward by the Lords would then need to be agreed by the Commons , but it remains to be seen how much appetite there is amongst the Lords to be seen to be disrupting the Brexit process.

Labour party reshuffle

Last week’s parliamentary vote on the Notification of Withdrawal Bill saw a number of Labour MPs defy a three-line whip. As a result, Jeremy Corbyn MP is expected to announce a further reshuffle to his Shadow Cabinet later this week. Whilst parliamentary convention dictates that those who vote against the Party whip resign from their post, there remains some ambiguity within the party on whether Corbyn will adopt this approach. Three Shadow Cabinet members; Jo Stevens MP, Rachael Maskell MP and Dawn Butler MP resigned from their roles, but a further 10 members of the junior shadow frontbench who also voted against the whip, still remain in post. When asked about the upcoming reshuffle Corbyn described himself as “a very lenient person”, a possible hint that he will allow the rebels to remain in post.

Scottish business rates

In Scotland businesses are expecting further details about possible tax increases to take effect in April 2017. This follows a long overdue review of rateable values and will include  a change to the way rates are assessed and the rates applied to different uses of commercial property. At the last revaluation there were 67,000 appeals and it remains to be seen whether this will be repeated.