Post Office Closures — Suspend for issues to be re-assessed — rejected — 19 Mar 2008 at 18:45

The majority of MPs voted to reject the motion put forward by the Conservative Party:[1]

  • This House -
  • regrets the proposal to close up to 2,500 post offices;
  • recognises the vital role post offices play in local communities;
  • notes the concern and unpopularity amongst the general public of closing such a large portion of the network;
  • has concerns that the access criteria laid down for the closures consultation do not adequately take into account local geographical factors and public transport networks;
  • is concerned that the consultation period is only for six weeks rather than three months, as recommended by Cabinet Office guidelines;
  • believes that post offices must move with the times in the services they offer and that options for business expansion and developing business opportunities with local authorities should be explored further; and
  • calls upon the Secretary of State for Business, Enterprise and Regulatory Reform to instruct Post Office Limited to suspend the compulsory closure of sub-post offices while these issues are re-assessed.

An alternative motion was proposed and voted through in the following vote.[2]

Half of the rebels were absent in the second vote, which included two loyal Labour voters, Ian Cawsey and Julie Morgan, who did not appear in this first division.[3] The BBC listed only those who voted against the Government.[4]

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 (No)Minority (Aye)BothTurnout
Con0 175 (+2 tell)092.2%
DUP0 4044.4%
Independent0 3060.0%
Independent Conservative0 10100.0%
Lab288 (+2 tell) 19087.8%
LDem0 59093.7%
PC0 30100.0%
SNP0 4066.7%
Total:288 268088.7%

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
Diane AbbottHackney North and Stoke NewingtonLabaye
Jeremy CorbynIslington NorthLabaye
John CummingsEasingtonLab (minister)aye
Andrew DismoreHendonLab (minister)aye
David DrewStroudLab (minister)aye
Frank FieldBirkenheadLab (minister)aye
Paul FlynnNewport WestLab (minister)aye
John GroganSelbyLab (minister)aye
Kate HoeyVauxhallLab (minister)aye
Kelvin HopkinsLuton NorthLab (minister)aye
Eric MartlewCarlisleLab (minister)aye
John Martin McDonnellHayes and HarlingtonLabaye
Alan MealeMansfieldLabaye
Gordon PrenticePendleLab (minister)aye
Alan SimpsonNottingham SouthLabaye
Geraldine SmithMorecambe and LunesdaleLab (minister)aye
Peter SoulsbyLeicester SouthLab (minister)aye
David TaylorNorth West LeicestershireLab (minister)aye
Mike WoodBatley and SpenLabaye

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