Parliamentary Voting System and Constituencies Bill — Reduce Number of Ministers If Number of MPs Reduced — 9 Feb 2011 at 19:39

The majority of members of the House of Lords voted against requiring the number of ministers to be reduced in line with any reduction in the number of MPs.

The House of Lords was considering the Parliamentary Voting System and Constituencies Bill^[1]. The amendment rejected in this vote was:

• Amendment 27F :After Clause 11, insert the following new Clause-
• "Variation in limit of number of holders of ministerial offices
• (1) The House of Commons Disqualification Act 1975 is amended as follows.
• (2) For section 2(1) substitute-
• "(1) The number of holders of offices specified in Schedule 2 to this Act (in this section referred to as Ministerial offices) entitled to sit and vote in the House of Commons at any one time, whether paid or unpaid, must not exceed 95 if the number of constituencies in the United Kingdom is 650."
• (3) After section 2(1) insert-
• "(1A) If the number of constituencies in the United Kingdom decreases below 650, the limit on the number of holders of Ministerial offices entitled to sit and vote in the House of Commons referred to in section 2(1) must be decreased by at least a proportionate amount."
• (4) In subsection (2), after "subsection (1)", insert "or subsection (1A)"."

Had the amendment been agreed the above text would have been added after clause 11^[2].

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• [1] Parliament's webpage on the Parliamentary Voting System and Constituencies Bill
• [2] Clause 11 of the Parliamentary Voting System and Constituencies Bill as at the time of the vote

Debate in Parliament | Source |