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An update for those who are wondering what now for the Housing LCO.

Had there been no intervention from the Joint Committee of Lords and MPs then it would almost certainly have been passed 'on the nod' through both Houses before Easter. But now that the Committee has questioned whether the clause inserted to prevent the Assembly from abolishing the right to buy is lawful, a Liberal Democrat peer, Lord Livsey of Talgarth, has put down a motion calling on the Lords to decline to approve the LCO as it stands.

What that means is that it will now be debated by the Lords, a debate that won't happen until after the Easter recess.

Bear in mind that the Lib Dems fully support the LCO and want powers over housing to come to Wales. Why intervene like this then? Because, as leader Kirsty Williams puts it, "we fervently disagree with the Secretary of State's veto powers which were added to pacify devo-sceptic MPs ... Future power bids from Cardiff are likely to be controversial and I do not want to see the Secretary of State's veto power used as a tool to pacify devo-sceptic MPs every time we ask for powers".

That's unlikely to prevent accusations from Labour that the Lib Dems are themselves putting the transfer of powers in jeopardy by putting down this motion. Lord Livsey will have none of that. He wants the powers transferred, he says but not in a way that the Joint Committee regards as questionable and in a way that underlines the need "to go on bended knee to Parliament every time it wanted to implement a manifesto commitment. This is not in the spirit of devolution."

Of interest now: how will the Conservatives respond and will the Presiding Officer impress upon his colleagues in the House of Lords the need to get the LCO through, or does he perhaps accept the legal arguments on which Lord Livsey's motion is based? Lord Livsey seems to think he does - and will.

I gather that the motion put down by Richard Livsey is called a 'fatal motion', though just how fatal it proves to be for the LCO as drafted isn't yet clear.

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