There were celebrations on the streets of Blackpool last night as the Government’s plans to build the U.K’s first ever Super Casino in Manchester were defeated in the House of Lords.
Prior to the House of Lord’s result the motion to adopt the recommendations of the Casino advisory panel scraped through on the floor of the House of Commons.
18 Labour Mps sensationally rejected the proposals along with members of the Conservative and Liberal Democrats parties in a humiliating blow to the Culture Secretary.
A cloud of uncertainty now hangs over the future of the Cabinet’s plans though Tessa Jowell remains defiant.
She came out fighting today despite the enormous setback saying plans for the 17 new casinos are “very much alive”.
Promising to “reflect” on the latest development in the ‘Super Casino saga’ Jowell could try to force the plans through against the Lord’s wishes though this would inevitably lead to a political storm across the country. Such a move would lead opponents to question constitutional democracy in the U.K and would be a hugely unpopular move by the Labour Party.
Manchester representatives remain confident they will get the UK's first super-casino, but main rival Blackpool believes it has been given an opportunity to get the decision on the siting of the super-casino changed.
Peers rejected the plans by 123 votes to 120, killing off the order even though the Commons narrowly voted it through.
Some peers - including Church of England Bishops - had raised objections to gambling in general, while others were specifically against the order because Blackpool missed out or because MPs did not have the chance to debate the choice of Manchester.
Ms Jowell said after the vote that the government's next move was undecided.
"When you're going to win a vote, you don't have a plan B. You go out to win a vote - and we won in the Commons, and certainly at the beginning of the week it was looking much tighter than it eventually was.
"But given that the Lords have rejected the order, we now obviously have to consider both their amendment and the various options that are open to us."
