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Rebellion by Lib Dem peers helped carry an amendment that marks a major defeat for the coalition on its first anniversary The government suffered a major defeat in the Lords when a rebellion by Liberal Democrat peers helped carry an amendment that could bury the government’s central policy of elected police and crime commissioners. In an apparent show of the “muscular liberalism” Nick Clegg had promised would mark a new phase in the coalition as it enters its second year, Lib Dem peers threw out the plans to introduce American-style elected commissioners. It marks a serious defeat on the coalition’s first anniversary, including for Clegg, who at the last minute sent whips round to convince his party’s members to back the bill. Some 188 peers voted for the amendment, which knocked out plans for elected commissioners, to 176 opposing it. The vote carried with backing from 13 Liberal Democrat peers including Lord Oakeshott; some also defied the government by abstaining and allowing the amendment to squeak through. Clegg had indicated support for a rival amendment that would have shelved the plans for three years to allow time for pilots, but that was passed over in favour of the stronger change which, in effect, removes the policy of elected commissioners from the legislation. The police reform bill will return to the Commons, where it is more likely to pass, paving the way for a lengthy period of “ping-ponging” between the houses. Ministers insisted they would try to overturn the amendment. A Home Office spokesman said: “The election of police and crime commissioners is a clear coalition agreement policy. So while we will consider the debate in the Lords, we will look to redress this in the Commons.” Yvette Cooper, the shadow home secretary, said: “The Lords today have ripped the heart out of this deeply flawed flagship bill. The Tory plans for American-style elected police commissioners without any checks and balances are deeply flawed and un-British. David Cameron and Theresa May need to now recognise the strength of hostility and ditch the plans now.” The defeat is also a serious blow to May, the home secretary. Lib Dem peers won the backing of senior police officers, including three former Met commissioners in the Lords. The first elections for police commissioners in each force area outside London had been expected to be held in England and Wales next May. Their introduction would have meant the abolition of the police authorities who currently provide police oversight. The amendment was tabled by the Lib Dem peer Lady Harris, the vice-chairman of the Association of Police Authorities. Her warning that their introduction risked “irreparable damage” to the police service was echoed by the former Met commissioners, Lord Blair, Lord Condon and Lord Imbert, who attacked them as potential commissars. The Association of Police Authorities said of the successful amendment: “The government will now have to think again about the whole policy.” There was some confusion over whether the amendments simply scrapped the policy of police commissioners, or made provision for an appointed commissioner to sit alongside a wider membership police commission. One factor in the defeat was the decision by Baroness Neville-Jones, the minister who had been in charge of the bill in the Lords, to step down on Monday. Her replacement, Baroness Browning, was regarded as a more emollient figure in last night’s debate. The defeat came as Clegg and David Cameron sought to put distance between their two parties. Cameron last night issued a direct challenge to Clegg when he dismissed claims by the Lib Dems that they had used their influence to pause the legislation introducing the government’s controversial NHS reforms. In a sign of a new, scratchier relationship at the highest levels of the coalition, the prime minister told Tory MPs that he was solely responsible for the decision to pause the legislation. At a meeting of the Conservative backbench 1922 committee, at least one MP challenged the PM over reports that he was planning to stabilise the position of Clegg, who suffered poor results at the polls last week, by offering the Lib Dems a series of concessions on the NHS and other areas. Cameron denied that he was planning to change tack as a result of Lib Dem pressure. One Tory source said: “We are not going to let the Liberal Democrats pose as the moderating influence in the coalition. We are the party of the NHS. The pause was the prime minister’s idea not the deputy prime minister’s.” One factor in the defeat was the decision of Lady Neville-Jones, the minister who had been in charge of the bill in the Lords, to step down from the Home Office job on Monday. Her replacement, Lady Browning, was regarded as a more emollient figure in debate but that was not enough to save Theresa May from humiliation. Cameron and Clegg will attempt to highlight their joint commitment to the coalition today when they make a joint appearance to launch an initiative to help ease youth unemployment. The policy initiative on an economic matter is meant to show that the two parties are still working together on the fundamental issues. But Clegg also signalled a new approach in a speech and a round of television interviews distancing himself from the Conservatives. “I totally accept that … if you are a Conservative voter, one of the things you are accustomed to is the Conservative party to go into government and cut public spending,” he said in a speech at the National Liberal Club. “Some Conservative voters might even both demand it and like it. If you are a Liberal Democrat voter, you don’t like it. I don’t like it. I didn’t come into politics to kind of announce great cuts and savings. You do it out of necessity.” An independent poll, meanwhile, has suggested that the government has failed to convince the public that coalitions are good for the country, and more than two thirds of people now believe the government is weaker, less decisive and “confused” about what it stands for. Only half of people believe the Lib Dems have had an influence in the coalition and most people think the Tories have got the best deal. Clegg should stop trying to be an overarching deputy prime minister and take on a major government department if he wants to improve his powerbase, the Institute for Government (IFG), which commissioned the poll, said. “It is very difficult to exert serious political authority sitting in the cabinet office without a portfolio,” Lord Adonis, the former Labour transport secretary and director of the IFG said. The coalition had failed to convince the electorate of its efficacy, he said: “Their experience of coalition over the past year seems to have turned them decisively against it.” The IFG poll found that 63% of people think it is a bad thing that no party won a majority at the election – up from 55% a year ago. Some 68% think that coalition has created a weaker government, 73% believe government is less decisive and 80% say the government is “more confused” with a coalition. House of Lords Liberal Democrats Liberal-Conservative coalition David Cameron Nick Clegg Police Polly Curtis Alan Travis Nicholas Watt guardian.co.uk