Comparison of Divisions: Electoral Integrity — 22 Jun 2005 at 18:50 with Division No. 19 on the same day at 18:59

(Swap the two divisions around).

Vote (a) : Electoral Integrity - 22 Jun 2005 at 18:50 - Division No. 18

This division took place at the end of a Conservative opposition day debate on the electoral system, concentrating on postal voting and electoral registration. The motion which the Conservatives proposed was:

That this House believes that the Government should rule out future use of all-postal voting and that any pilot schemes should be subject to explicit parliamentary ratification; regrets the unwillingness of the Government to adopt in mainland Britain the tried and tested Northern Ireland system of individual voter registration; condemns the Government's constitutional changes which have undermined democratic accountability, such as the introduction of proportional representation; and further believes that urgent steps are needed to restore public confidence and integrity in the electoral system and to increase the accountability of government.

The government moved an amendment to change this motion to:

That this House believes that the General and local elections were safe and secure, and produced results that were fair and accurate; recognises that public confidence in the electoral process is paramount; and believes that the Government's constitutional changes have strengthened democratic accountability, bringing our institutions closer to the people.

The question which was before the House was whether to keep the original wording to the motion, and those voting Aye were therefore supporting the motion as it was originally proposed. Those voting No were opposing the motion although not necessarily supporting the amendment.

Vote (b) : Electoral Integrity - 22 Jun 2005 at 18:59 - Division No. 19

Those voting Aye adopted the motion:

This House believes that the General and local elections were safe and secure, and produced results that were fair and accurate; recognises that public confidence in the electoral process is paramount; and believes that the Government's constitutional changes have strengthened democratic accountability, bringing our institutions closer to the people.

after having rejected the original words in the previous division. You can see the difference between the two votes, which includes those who disagreed with both motions, here.

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Difference in Votes - sorted by party

MPs for which their vote on Motion (a) differed from their inverted vote on Motion (b). You can also see just opposite votes between these two divisions, or simply all the votes.

Sort by: Name | Constituency | Party | Vote (a) | Vote (b)

NameConstituencyPartyVote (a)Vote (b)
Michael FallonSevenoaksCon (front bench)aye absent
John HoramOrpingtonConaye absent
Michael HowardFolkestone and HytheCon (front bench)aye absent
David MacleanPenrith and The BorderCon (front bench)aye absent
Keith SimpsonMid NorfolkCon (front bench)aye absent
Tim YeoSouth SuffolkConaye absent
Peter LilleyHitchin and HarpendenConabsent no
Richard TaylorWyre ForestIndependentno no
Ian DavidsonGlasgow South WestLab (minister)no absent
Glenda JacksonHampstead and HighgateLabno absent
John PrescottKingston upon Hull EastLab (minister)no absent
Norman BakerLewesLDem (front bench)no no
Alan BeithBerwick-upon-TweedLDem (front bench)no no
Tom BrakeCarshalton and WallingtonLDem (front bench)no no
Colin BreedSouth East CornwallLDem (front bench)no no
Annette BrookeMid Dorset and North PooleLDem (front bench)no no
Jeremy BrowneTauntonLDem (front bench)no no
Paul BurstowSutton and CheamLDem (front bench)no no
Lorely BurtSolihullLDem (front bench)no no
Vincent CableTwickenhamLDem (front bench)no no
Alistair CarmichaelOrkney and ShetlandLDem (front bench)no no
Nick CleggSheffield, HallamLDem (front bench)no no
Edward DaveyKingston and SurbitonLDem (front bench)no no
Tim FarronWestmorland and LonsdaleLDem (front bench)no no
Lynne FeatherstoneHornsey and Wood GreenLDem (front bench)no no
Don FosterBathLDem (front bench)no no
Andrew GeorgeSt IvesLDem (front bench)no no
Sandra GidleyRomseyLDem (front bench)no no
Julia GoldsworthyFalmouth and CamborneLDem (front bench)no no
Nick HarveyNorth DevonLDem (front bench)no no
David HeathSomerton and FromeLDem (front bench)no no
John HemmingBirmingham, YardleyLDemno no
Paul HolmesChesterfieldLDem (front bench)no no
Martin HorwoodCheltenhamLDemno no
David HowarthCambridgeLDem (front bench)no no
Simon HughesNorth Southwark and BermondseyLDem (front bench)no no
Christopher HuhneEastleighLDem (front bench)no no
Paul KeetchHerefordLDemno no
Charles KennedyRoss, Skye and LochaberLDem (front bench)no no
Susan KramerRichmond ParkLDem (front bench)no no
Norman LambNorth NorfolkLDem (front bench)no no
David LawsYeovilLDem (front bench)no no
John LeechManchester, WithingtonLDemno no
Michael MooreBerwickshire, Roxburgh and SelkirkLDem (front bench)no no
Greg MulhollandLeeds North WestLDem (front bench)no no
Lembit ÖpikMontgomeryshireLDem (front bench)no no
John PughSouthportLDem (front bench)no no
Alan ReidArgyll and ButeLDem (front bench)no no
Dan RogersonNorth CornwallLDem (front bench)no no
Paul RowenRochdaleLDemno no
Adrian SandersTorbayLDem (front bench)no no
Andrew StunellHazel GroveLDem (front bench)no no
Jo SwinsonEast DunbartonshireLDem (front bench)no no
Matthew TaylorTruro and St AustellLDemno no
Sarah TeatherBrent EastLDem (front bench)no no
Steve WebbNorthavonLDem (front bench)no no
Mark WilliamsCeredigionLDem (front bench)no no
Roger WilliamsBrecon and RadnorshireLDem (front bench)no no
Stephen WilliamsBristol WestLDem (front bench)no no
Phil WillisHarrogate and KnaresboroughLDemno no
Jennifer WillottCardiff CentralLDemno no
Richard Younger-RossTeignbridgeLDemno no
Danny AlexanderInverness, Nairn, Badenoch and StrathspeyLDem (front bench)no absent
Elfyn LlwydMeirionnydd Nant ConwyPC (front bench)no no
Adam PriceCarmarthen East and DinefwrPC (front bench)no no
Hywel WilliamsCaernarfonPC (front bench)no absent
Alasdair McDonnellBelfast SouthSDLPabsent aye
Angus MacNeilNa h-Eileanan an IarSNP (front bench)no no
Pete WishartPerth and North PerthshireSNP (front bench)no no
Michael WeirAngusSNP (front bench)no absent
Alex SalmondBanff and BuchanSNP (front bench)absent no

Division Similarity Ratio

The measure of similarity between these two divisions is a calculation based on a comparison of their votes.

There were 644 MPs who could have voted in both of these divisions, and 56 voted the same way, with 472 voting in opposite ways. There were 101 MPs who didn't vote in either division, and 15 who voted in only one of them.

We invert the vote on the second division if it makes the distance closer (since the meaning of 'Aye' and 'No' are often interchangeable depending on how the question was put). In this case, they line up on opposite sides. An 's vote in in only one of the divisions contributes a factor of 0.2 to the distance. The calculation runs as follows:

ratio =
[same-votes]
([same-votes] + [differing-votes] + 0.2x[abstain-in-one])
=
472
(472 + 56 + 0.2x15)
=
472
531
= 0.889 = 88.9 %.


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