Use of Hand-held Electronic Devices and Social Media in the Chamber (Backbench Business) — 13 Oct 2011 at 15:24

George Freeman MP, Mid Norfolk voted against allowing MPs to tweet from the commons chamber.

The majority of MPs voted against restricting the use of electronic devices in the House of Commons chamber in a manner which would have prevented MPs from using Twitter and other social media sites during debates.

Those MPs who voted "aye" were voting against allowing MPs to tweet from the commons chamber.

The text of the motion being debated[1] was:

  • That this House notes the Third Report from the Procedure Committee on Use of hand-held electronic devices in the Chamber and committees, HC 889; and resolves that hand-held devices (not laptops) may be used in the Chamber, provided that they are silent, and used in a way that does not impair decorum, that Members making speeches in the Chamber or in committee may refer to electronic devices in place of paper speaking notes and that electronic devices, including laptops, may be used silently in committee meetings, including select committees.

The division was on making the following, rejected, amendment:

  • leave out from ‘Chamber’ to end and add ‘to a minimal extent, silently and with decorum, to receive and send urgent messages, as a substitute for paper speaking notes and to refer to documents for use in debates, but not for any other purpose.’.

The original, unammended, motion, was subsequently passed by the house without at vote.

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
Con124 (+1 tell) 44 (+2 tell)055.9%
DUP1 1025.0%
Green1 00100.0%
Lab57 (+1 tell) 14128.3%
LDem22 3043.9%
PC0 1033.3%
SNP1 0016.7%
Total:206 63142.9%

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
Peter AldousWaveneyCon (front bench)aye
Sir David AmessSouthend WestCon (front bench)aye
Guto BebbAberconwyCon (front bench)aye
Graham BradyAltrincham and Sale WestCon (front bench)aye
Steve BrineWinchesterConaye
Robert BucklandSouth SwindonCon (front bench)aye
Conor BurnsBournemouth WestConaye
Alun CairnsVale of GlamorganCon (front bench)aye
Philip DaviesShipleyCon (front bench)aye
Nick de BoisEnfield NorthCon (front bench)aye
Philip DunneLudlowCon (front bench)aye
George EusticeCamborne and RedruthCon (front bench)aye
Michael FallonSevenoaksCon (front bench)aye
Mark FrancoisRayleigh and WickfordCon (front bench)aye
George FreemanMid NorfolkConaye
Richard FullerBedfordConaye
Roger GaleNorth ThanetCon (front bench)tellaye
Robert GoodwillScarborough and WhitbyCon (front bench)aye
James GrayNorth WiltshireCon (front bench)aye
Simon HartCarmarthen West and South PembrokeshireCon (front bench)aye
Gordon HendersonSittingbourne and SheppeyCon (front bench)aye
Damian HindsEast HampshireCon (front bench)aye
Philip HolloboneKetteringCon (front bench)aye
Stewart JacksonPeterboroughConaye
Marcus JonesNuneatonConaye
Daniel KawczynskiShrewsbury and AtchamConaye
Julian LewisNew Forest EastCon (front bench)aye
Anne MainSt AlbansCon (front bench)aye
Paul MaynardBlackpool North and CleveleysCon (front bench)aye
Christopher PincherTamworthCon (front bench)aye
Simon ReevellDewsburyCon (front bench)aye
Malcolm RifkindKensingtonCon (front bench)aye
Andrew RosindellRomfordCon (front bench)aye
David RuffleyBury St EdmundsCon (front bench)aye
Andrew SelousSouth West BedfordshireCon (front bench)aye
Alok SharmaReading WestConaye
Anna SoubryBroxtoweConaye
Iain StewartMilton Keynes SouthCon (front bench)aye
Desmond SwayneNew Forest WestConaye
Robert SymsPooleCon (front bench)aye
Andrew TurnerIsle of WightCon (front bench)aye
Andrew TyrieChichesterCon (front bench)aye
Charles WalkerBroxbourneCon (front bench)tellaye
Angela WatkinsonHornchurch and UpminsterCon (front bench)aye
John WhittingdaleMaldonCon (front bench)aye
Gavin WilliamsonSouth StaffordshireCon (front bench)aye
Stuart BellMiddlesbroughLabaye
Alan CampbellTynemouthLab (minister)aye
Katy ClarkNorth Ayrshire and ArranLab (minister)aye
Jeremy CorbynIslington NorthLab (minister)aye
Ian DavidsonGlasgow South WestLab (minister)aye
Thomas DochertyDunfermline and West FifeLab (minister)aye
Helen GoodmanBishop AucklandLab (minister)aye
David HamiltonMidlothianLab (minister)aye
Mark HendrickPrestonLab (minister)aye
Kevan JonesNorth DurhamLab (minister)aye
Gerald KaufmanManchester, GortonLab (minister)aye
Jim SheridanPaisley and Renfrewshire NorthLab (minister)aye
Dennis SkinnerBolsoverLabaye
Mike WoodBatley and SpenLabaye
Kelvin HopkinsLuton NorthLab (minister)both
Simon HughesBermondsey and Old SouthwarkLDem (front bench)aye
Bob RussellColchesterLDem (front bench)aye
Ian SwalesRedcarLDem (front bench)aye

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