Election of Backbench Business Committee — 12 Mar 2012 at 17:46

Sarah Wollaston MP, Totnes voted to require a representative of MPs from minority parties on the Backbench Business Committee.

The majority of MPs voted against requiring a representative of MPs from minority parties on the Backbench Business Committee.

MPs were considering a motion[1] on the arrangements for operation of the Backbench Business Committee, including membership of the committee and the election of chair.

The committee is responsible for allocating certain periods of parliamentary time for "backbench business"; MPs can apply to it if they wish to get see particular motion debated in the House of Commons or in Westminster Hall.

The first paragraph of the motion stated:

  • (1) this House endorses the principle that parties should elect members of the Backbench Business Committee each Session and thereafter when a vacancy arises in a secret ballot of all Members of that party by whichever transparent and democratic method they choose.

The amendment rejected in this vote was:

  • Amendment (a), at end of paragraph (1), after ‘choose’, insert:
  • ‘; and that the members of those parties who would not otherwise be represented on the Committee, or of no party, should choose one Member to represent them on the Committee by a secret ballot of those Members’.

MP Natascha Engel who proposed the amendment spoke during the debate to say[2]:

  • The Backbench Business Committee is different from other Select Committees, in that it represents all Back Benchers of the House. At the moment, however, we do that very poorly by not having representation from the minority parties.

At the time of the vote section 2(f)(i) of House of Commons Standing Order 122D[3] which set out the rules for the election of the Backbench Business Committee required that:

  • such a number of candidates shall come from each party represented in the House or those of no party as shall be determined and announced in advance by the Speaker, in such a way as to ensure that the committee including the Chair reflects as closely as possible the composition of the House

==

Debate in Parliament | Source |

Public Whip is run as a free not-for-profit service. If you'd like to support us, please consider switching your (UK) electricity and/or gas to Octopus Energy or tip us via Ko-Fi.

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
Con134 (+1 tell) 33054.9%
DUP0 2025.0%
Lab12 49023.7%
LDem20 (+1 tell) 13059.6%
PC0 2066.7%
SNP0 2 (+2 tell)066.7%
Total:166 101042.5%

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
Richard BaconSouth NorfolkCon (front bench)aye
John BaronBasildon and BillericayCon (front bench)aye
Peter BoneWellingboroughCon (front bench)aye
Graham BradyAltrincham and Sale WestCon (front bench)aye
Andrew BridgenNorth West LeicestershireCon (front bench)aye
Douglas CarswellClactonConaye
Bill CashStoneCon (front bench)aye
Philip DaviesShipleyCon (front bench)aye
David DavisHaltemprice and HowdenConaye
Mark FieldCities of London and WestminsterCon (front bench)aye
Zac GoldsmithRichmond ParkCon (front bench)aye
James GrayNorth WiltshireCon (front bench)aye
Robert HalfonHarlowCon (front bench)aye
Bernard JenkinHarwich and North EssexCon (front bench)aye
Julian LewisNew Forest EastCon (front bench)aye
Karl McCartneyLincolnConaye
Nigel MillsAmber ValleyCon (front bench)aye
David NuttallBury NorthCon (front bench)aye
Matthew OffordHendonConaye
Richard OttawayCroydon SouthCon (front bench)aye
Andrew PercyBrigg and GooleCon (front bench)aye
Mark PritchardThe WrekinCon (front bench)aye
Mark RecklessRochester and StroodCon (front bench)aye
John RedwoodWokinghamConaye
Jacob Rees-MoggNorth East SomersetCon (front bench)aye
Andrew RosindellRomfordCon (front bench)aye
Richard ShepherdAldridge-BrownhillsCon (front bench)aye
Gary StreeterSouth West DevonCon (front bench)aye
Andrew TurnerIsle of WightCon (front bench)aye
Andrew TyrieChichesterCon (front bench)aye
Heather WheelerSouth DerbyshireCon (front bench)aye
John WhittingdaleMaldonCon (front bench)aye
Sarah WollastonTotnesCon (front bench)aye
Rushanara AliBethnal Green and BowLab (minister)no
Graham AllenNottingham NorthLab (minister)no
Clive BettsSheffield South EastLab (minister)no
Mary CreaghWakefieldLab (minister)no
Thomas DochertyDunfermline and West FifeLab (minister)no
Brian H DonohoeCentral AyrshireLabno
Angela EagleWallaseyLab (minister)no
Jim FitzpatrickPoplar and LimehouseLab (minister)no
David HansonDelynLab (minister)no
Chris LeslieNottingham EastLab (minister)no
Jonathan ReynoldsStalybridge and HydeLab (minister)no
Angela SmithPenistone and StocksbridgeLab (minister)no
Alan BeithBerwick-upon-TweedLDem (front bench)aye
Tim FarronWestmorland and LonsdaleLDem (front bench)aye
Andrew GeorgeSt IvesLDem (front bench)aye
John HemmingBirmingham, YardleyLDem (front bench)aye
Martin HorwoodCheltenhamLDemaye
Simon HughesBermondsey and Old SouthwarkLDem (front bench)aye
Greg MulhollandLeeds North WestLDem (front bench)aye
Tessa MuntWellsLDem (front bench)aye
Adrian SandersTorbayLDemaye
Robert SmithWest Aberdeenshire and KincardineLDem (front bench)aye
Ian SwalesRedcarLDem (front bench)aye
Mark WilliamsCeredigionLDem (front bench)aye
Roger WilliamsBrecon and RadnorshireLDem (front bench)aye

About the Project

The Public Whip is a not-for-profit, open source website created in 2003 by Francis Irving and Julian Todd and now run by Bairwell Ltd.

The Whip on the Web

Help keep PublicWhip alive