Freedom of Information (Amendment) Bill — Continue to disclose MPs' correspondence — rejected — 18 May 2007 at 11:30

The majority of MPs voted against changing the proposed Freedom of Information (Amendment) Bill (designed to remove Parliament and MPs from the power of the Freedom of Information Act 2000) to not include the exemption for MPs' correspondence.

The Bill was to add the following Freedom of Information exemption:

  • Information is exempt information if it consists of correspondence between a Member of Parliament and a public authority, as listed in Schedule 1 of this Act.
  • The duty to confirm or deny does not arise in relation to information which is exempt information by virtue of this section.

The proposal, which MPs voted against, would have deleted this provision, and kept only the part which prevented the Freedom of Information laws from applying to Parliament (and to MPs' expenses). But since the official purpose of this Bill was to protect MPs' correspondence (as opposed to the actual reason of hiding their expenses) they had to vote to keep it.

The vote to start discussion on this amendment was made in Division 119.

Debate in Parliament | Source |

Public Whip is run as a free not-for-profit service. If you'd like to support us, please consider switching your (UK) electricity and/or gas to Octopus Energy or tip us via Ko-Fi.

All Votes Cast - sorted by party

MPs for which their vote in this division differed from the majority vote of their party are marked in red. Also shows which MPs were ministers at the time of this vote. You can also see every eligible MP including those who did not vote in this division.

Sort by: Name | Constituency | Party | Vote

NameConstituencyPartyVote
James ClappisonHertsmereCon (front bench)aye
Philip HolloboneKetteringCon (front bench)aye
John MaplesStratford-on-AvonCon (front bench)aye
John RedwoodWokinghamConaye
Richard ShepherdAldridge-BrownhillsCon (front bench)aye
Peter AtkinsonHexhamCon (front bench)no
Tim BoswellDaventryContellno
Simon BurnsWest ChelmsfordCon (front bench)no
John ButterfillBournemouth WestCon (front bench)no
Christopher ChopeChristchurchCon (front bench)no
James DuddridgeRochford and Southend EastCon (front bench)no
Tobias EllwoodBournemouth EastCon (front bench)no
Michael FabricantLichfieldCon (front bench)no
Mark FrancoisRayleighCon (front bench)no
Stephen HammondWimbledonCon (front bench)no
Julie KirkbrideBromsgroveCon (front bench)no
Greg KnightEast YorkshireCon (front bench)no
David MacleanPenrith and The BorderCon (front bench)no
Bob NeillBromley and ChislehurstConno
Andrew PellingCroydon Centralwhilst Con (front bench)no
Mark PritchardThe WrekinCon (front bench)no
John RandallUxbridgeCon (front bench)no
David RuffleyBury St EdmundsCon (front bench)no
David TredinnickBosworthConno
Shailesh VaraNorth West CambridgeshireCon (front bench)no
Ann WiddecombeMaidstone and The WealdConno
Ann WintertonCongletonCon (front bench)no
Nicholas WintertonMacclesfieldCon (front bench)no
Jeremy CorbynIslington NorthLabaye
Jim CousinsNewcastle upon Tyne CentralLab (minister)aye
Frank FieldBirkenheadLab (minister)aye
Mark FisherStoke-on-Trent CentralLabaye
Kate HoeyVauxhallLabaye
Glenda JacksonHampstead and HighgateLabaye
Gerald KaufmanManchester, GortonLab (minister)aye
Sally KeebleNorthampton NorthLab (minister)aye
Martin LintonBatterseaLab (minister)aye
Fiona MactaggartSloughLab (minister)aye
Dan NorrisWansdykeLab (minister)aye
Barry SheermanHuddersfieldLab (minister)aye
Peter SoulsbyLeicester SouthLab (minister)aye
David WinnickWalsall NorthLab (minister)aye
Bob AinsworthCoventry North EastLab (minister)no
Graham AllenNottingham NorthLabno
Janet AndersonRossendale and DarwenLab (minister)no
Adrian BaileyWest Bromwich WestLab (minister)no
Stuart BellMiddlesbroughLab (minister)no
Clive BettsSheffield, AttercliffeLab (minister)no
Liz BlackmanErewashLab (minister)no
Nick BrownNewcastle upon Tyne East and WallsendLabno
Colin BurgonElmetLabno
David CairnsInverclydeLab (minister)no
Alan CampbellTynemouthLab (minister)no
Ronnie CampbellBlyth ValleyLab (minister)no
Paul ClarkGillinghamLab (minister)no
David ClellandTyne BridgeLab (minister)no
Harry CohenLeyton and WansteadLab (minister)no
Wayne DavidCaerphillyLab (minister)no
Parmjit DhandaGloucesterLab (minister)no
Andrew DismoreHendonLab (minister)tellno
Brian H DonohoeCentral AyrshireLab (minister)no
Frank DoranAberdeen NorthLab (minister)no
Jim DowdLewisham WestLab (minister)no
Angela EagleWallaseyLab (minister)no
Maria EagleLiverpool, GarstonLab (minister)no
Jim FitzpatrickPoplar and Canning TownLab (minister)no
Michael FosterWorcesterLab (minister)no
Barry GardinerBrent NorthLab (minister)no
Roger GodsiffBirmingham, Sparkbrook and Small HeathLabno
Mike HallWeaver ValeLab (minister)no
Tom HarrisGlasgow SouthLab (minister)no
Doug HendersonNewcastle upon Tyne NorthLabno
John HeppellNottingham EastLab (minister)no
Keith HillStreathamLab (minister)no
Brian IddonBolton South EastLab (minister)no
Huw Irranca-DaviesOgmoreLab (minister)no
Kevan JonesNorth DurhamLab (minister)no
Martyn JonesClwyd SouthLab (minister)no
Fraser KempHoughton and Washington EastLabno
David LammyTottenhamLab (minister)no
Bob LaxtonDerby NorthLab (minister)no
Tom LevittHigh PeakLab (minister)no
Ivan LewisBury SouthLab (minister)no
Tony LloydManchester CentralLab (minister)no
Denis MacShaneRotherhamLabno
Khalid MahmoodBirmingham, Perry BarrLabno
David MarshallGlasgow EastLab (minister)no
Thomas McAvoyRutherglen and Hamilton WestLab (minister)no
Steve McCabeBirmingham, Hall GreenLab (minister)no
Ian McCartneyMakerfieldLab (minister)no
Jim McGovernDundee WestLab (minister)no
Shona McIsaacCleethorpesLab (minister)no
Tony McNultyHarrow EastLab (minister)no
Gillian MerronLincolnLab (minister)no
Alun MichaelCardiff South and PenarthLabno
Elliot MorleyScunthorpeLabno
George MudieLeeds EastLab (minister)no
Meg MunnSheffield, HeeleyLab (minister)no
Denis MurphyWansbeckLab (minister)no
James PlaskittWarwick and LeamingtonLab (minister)no
Steve PoundEaling NorthLab (minister)no
Ken PurchaseWolverhampton North EastLab (minister)no
John RobertsonGlasgow North WestLab (minister)no
Frank RoyMotherwell and WishawLab (minister)no
Joan RyanEnfield NorthLab (minister)no
Martin SalterReading WestLab (minister)no
Jonathan R ShawChatham and AylesfordLab (minister)no
Jim SheridanPaisley and Renfrewshire NorthLabno
Siôn SimonBirmingham, ErdingtonLabno
Angela SmithSheffield, HillsboroughLab (minister)no
Anne SnelgroveSouth SwindonLab (minister)no
John SpellarWarleyLabno
Mark TamiAlyn and DeesideLab (minister)no
Dari TaylorStockton SouthLab (minister)no
Gareth ThomasHarrow WestLab (minister)no
Claire WardWatfordLab (minister)no
Tom WatsonWest Bromwich EastLab (minister)no
Dave WattsSt Helens NorthLab (minister)no
Malcolm WicksCroydon NorthLab (minister)no
Phil WoolasOldham East and SaddleworthLab (minister)no
David WrightTelfordLab (minister)no
Norman BakerLewesLDemaye
Paul BurstowSutton and CheamLDem (front bench)aye
Lorely BurtSolihullLDem (front bench)aye
Vincent CableTwickenhamLDem (front bench)aye
Tim FarronWestmorland and LonsdaleLDem (front bench)aye
Julia GoldsworthyFalmouth and CamborneLDem (front bench)aye
Evan HarrisOxford West and AbingdonLDem (front bench)aye
David HeathSomerton and FromeLDem (front bench)aye
David HowarthCambridgeLDem (front bench)tellaye
Simon HughesNorth Southwark and BermondseyLDem (front bench)aye
Susan KramerRichmond ParkLDem (front bench)aye
Alan ReidArgyll and ButeLDem (front bench)aye
Jo SwinsonEast DunbartonshireLDem (front bench)aye
Roger WilliamsBrecon and RadnorshireLDem (front bench)tellaye
Stephen WilliamsBristol WestLDem (front bench)aye
Hywel WilliamsCaernarfonPC (front bench)aye

About the Project

The Public Whip is a not-for-profit, open source website created in 2003 by Francis Irving and Julian Todd and now run by Bairwell Ltd.

The Whip on the Web

Help keep PublicWhip alive