Benefit Entitlement (Restriction) Bill — 17 Jan 2014 at 13:04

The majority of MPs voted against a proposal to restrict the entitlement of non-UK citizens from the European Union and the European Economic Area to UK taxpayer-funded benefits.

MPs were voting on the main principles of The Benefit Entitlement (Restriction) Bill[1]; the Bill would::

  • Require a declaration of nationality be made before someone could apply for a taxpayer-funded benefit or apply for a national insurance number.
  • Remove eligibility for Housing Benefit and Council Tax Benefit from European Union and European Economic Area nationals unless their entitlement derives from them being a spouse or dependant of a UK citizen.
  • Cap UK taxpayer funded benefits paid to European Union and European Economic Area nationals at the level of the equivalent benefit which the person would receive if they were resident in the country of which they are a national.
  • Stop UK taxpayer-funded benefits being paid to European Economic Area citizens unless the benefit arises from an insurance based contribute which the claimant has made.

On moving the motion to read the Bill a second time and therefore allow it to progress towards becoming law Christopher Chope (Christchurch, Conservative) MP stated the Bill would make:

  • “provision to restrict the entitlement of non-UK citizens from the European Union and the European Economic Area to taxpayer-funded benefits.”

The Deputy Speaker declared that the Question was not decided because fewer than 40 Members had taken part in the Division, and the business under consideration stood over until the next sitting of the House[3]

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
Con20 (+2 tell) 4 (+2 tell)19.5%
Lab9 003.5%
LDem0 000.0%
Total:29 416.1%

Rebel Voters - sorted by vote

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
Christopher ChopeChristchurchCon (front bench)aye
Philip DaviesShipleyCon (front bench)tellaye
Philip HolloboneKetteringCon (front bench)aye
Julian LewisNew Forest EastCon (front bench)aye
David NuttallBury NorthCon (front bench)tellaye
Jacob Rees-MoggNorth East SomersetCon (front bench)aye
Andrew MurrisonSouth West WiltshireCon (front bench)both

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