European Union Bill — Decline Second Reading — 7 Dec 2010 at 21:41

Stewart Jackson MP, Peterborough voted for a referendum prior to any future transfer of powers from the UK to the EU.

The majority of MPs voted to support the European Union Bill, a key provision of which is a guarantee of a referendum prior to any future transfer of powers from the UK to the EU.

The text of the motion rejected during the vote was:

  • this House

"declines to give a second reading to the European Union Bill on the grounds that, while the principle of referendums on significant constitutional and monetary changes is appropriate, the Bill is a flawed measure which would confuse the important issues at stake and make vital constitutional issues justiciable by the courts rather than resolved under the sovereignty of Parliament."

The key areas of the European Union Act, according to Parliament's website:

  • Provides for a referendum throughout the United Kingdom on any proposed EU treaty or Treaty change which would transfer powers from the UK to the EU
  • Ensures that an Act of Parliament would have to be passed before a ‘ratchet clause’ or a passerelle (bridging clause) in the European Union Treaty could be used. In addition, if the passerelle involved a transfer of power or competence from the UK to the EU, this would also be subject to a referendum before the Government could agree to its use
  • Enables the UK to ratify a Protocol to allow additional European Parliament seats for the UK and 11 other Member States during the current European Parliament term, and to legislate for the extra UK seat
  • Provides for a clause that affirms that EU law takes effect in the UK only because Parliament wills that it should. This confirms the principle that Parliament is sovereign.

Those voting "aye" in this division were voting against the provisions in the European Union Act.

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
Alliance0 10100.0%
Con273 (+1 tell) 0089.5%
DUP5 0175.0%
Green0 10100.0%
Independent0 10100.0%
Lab0 189 (+2 tell)074.3%
LDem46 (+1 tell) 0082.5%
PC1 1066.7%
SDLP0 1033.3%
SNP4 0066.7%
Total:329 194182.1%

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
Jim ShannonStrangfordDUP (front bench)both

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