Issue link: https://htpgraphics.uberflip.com/i/464860
AGRICULTURE EDITION 59 REVIEW OF PARLIAMENT | Sheerman, insisted the critics were not 'flat-earthists': 'We know that our rail infrastructure must be renewed and that there are real problems with capacity and much else, but this proposal is deeply flawed.' The Labour former foreign secretary Jack Straw, who represents Blackburn in Lancashire, said most of his colleagues representing constituencies in the North backed HS2. And he suggested that the creation of the M40 was far more disruptive for people living in the Chilterns, adding: 'but nobody would now suggest it should be abandoned or greened over'. Another line of attack came from the Commons' only Green MP, Caroline Lucas, who warned of destroying 'irreplaceable' ancient woodlands along the route. Containing the eventual rebellion to 35 Conservative MPs (some voting for the Gillan amendment, some voting against the second reading of the Bill) was a significant success for the government whips. Labour's well-telegraphed support meant the Bill was never in any danger of defeat, but that, paradoxically, made rebellion a free hit for any Conservatives under constituency pressure. The invisible factor was the number of Conservatives who voted with teeth gritted, but who still have serious doubts. Were Labour to change its line at some later stage – and the Bill will not have been passed by the 2015 general election – the votes needed to defeat HS2 might be there. In what may well prove to be the single most significant Commons vote of the 2014–2015 parliament, MPs delivered a shocking rebuff to the coalition government, and rejected a motion seen as giving tentative approval for British forces to join an international response to chemical weapons attacks in the civil war in Syria. The result of that division caught even most MPs by surprise – a huge roar went up as they spotted which set of tellers (the members who count votes) were standing on the Speaker's left – signifying that the 'No' side had won by 285 votes to 272. The Commons rejects armed intervention in the civil war in Syria David Cameron with the HS2 declaration MPs voted against a motion giving tentative approval for British forces to join an international response to events in Syria