Lisbon Treaty — Clause on 'parliamentary control of decisions' to remain in the Bill — 4 Mar 2008 at 22:30

Stewart Jackson MP, Peterborough voted in the minority (No).

The majority Aye voters passed a motion[1] that confirmed the clauses on 'parliamentary control of decisions' (clause 6) and 'short title' (clause 7) should remain in the European Union (Amendment) Bill.

Clause 6 outlines which decisions made at the European Union (EU) level would have to be approved by parliament. This mainly relates to the passerelle clauses which enables the EU to make decisions on certain policy areas via qualified majority voting rather than unanimity.

The Tories were opposed to this clause because they felt that ministers:

  • 'in referring to clause 6, which is entitled "Parliamentary control of decisions", have tried to give the impression that what is happening here is a strengthening of parliamentary control. They refer to the fact that the House and the other place will have to vote on a motion to approve some of those changes, neglecting to point out that the status quo is that an Act of Parliament has to be passed to put through treaty changes.'[2]

However, the government argued that:

  • 'We went further in the Bill's provisions than any other Government anywhere in the European Union who are currently using the process of ratification. The Bill gives Parliament a power that is not given anywhere else in the treaty or for any of the passerelles: prior control over the Government's veto. The treaty does not give national Parliaments prior control of any passerelle decision and a parliamentary lock is set out in the treaty. The Bill also provides a parliamentary lock on six separate passerelles, which, under the treaty, have no parliamentary lock at all—'[3]

The European Union (Amendment) Bill implements the Lisbon Treaty into UK law. The main aims of the Lisbon Treaty were to[4]:

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Debate in Parliament | Source |

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Party Summary

Votes by party, red entries are votes against the majority for that party.

What is Tell? '+1 tell' means that in addition one member of that party was a teller for that division lobby.

What are Boths? An MP can vote both aye and no in the same division. The boths page explains this.

What is Turnout? This is measured against the total membership of the party at the time of the vote.

PartyMajority (Aye)Minority (No)BothTurnout
Con1 182 (+2 tell)095.9%
DUP0 5055.6%
Independent0 2040.0%
Lab298 (+2 tell) 0085.2%
LDem0 42066.7%
PC0 30100.0%
SDLP1 0033.3%
SNP0 4066.7%
Total:300 238085.5%

Rebel Voters - sorted by party

MPs for which their vote in this division differed from the majority vote of their party. You can see all votes in this division, or every eligible MP who could have voted in this division

Sort by: Name | Constituency | Party | Vote

NameConstituencyPartyVote
Kenneth ClarkeRushcliffeCon (front bench)aye

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