Transparency of Lobbying, Non-Party Campaigning and Trade Union Administration Bill — Schedule 3 — Inclusion of Staff Costs in Controlled Expenditure — 22 Jan 2014 at 16:30

Martin Horwood MP, Cheltenham voted to exclude staff costs from the controls on spending by campaigners who are not candidates, or who are not putting up candidates, in general elections.

The majority of MPs voted to include staff costs when calculating the amount spent on campaigning in general elections by those who are not candidates, or who are not putting up candidates in general elections. The amount such organisations are permitted to spend is restricted by law.

Those MPs voting with the majority were increasing the restrictions on third party organisations (such as charities) who campaign during elections.

MPs were considering the Transparency of Lobbying, Non-Party Campaigning and Trade Union Administration Bill.[1]

The motion which was the subject of this vote stated:

  • That this House disagrees with Lords amendment 108

The explanatory notes to the Lords amendments state[2]:

  • Lords Amendment 108 would exclude from the calculation of controlled expenditure staff costs in relation to transport, press conferences or organised media events and public rallies or other public events for staff who are directly employed by the third party.

The text of the amendment[4] was:

  • Page 57, line 14, at end insert—
  • “Exclusions of background staff costs
  • 1A Nothing in sub-paragraphs (3) to (5) of paragraph 1 shall be taken as extending to any expenses incurred in respect of remuneration or allowances payable to any member of staff (whether permanent or otherwise) of the third party.”

This amendment would have been inserted into Schedule 3 of the Transparency of Lobbying, Non-Party Campaigning and Trade Union Administration Bill which itself inserts a new Schedule into The Political Parties, Elections and Referendums Act 2000.

The provision the amendment acts on relates to guidance as to what kind of expenses count as controlled expenses for the purposes of expenditure by third parties during general elections. The guidance in question is to be produced by the Electoral Commission and submitted to the Secretary of State for their approval.

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 (Aye)Minority (No)BothTurnout
Alliance0 10100.0%
Con273 (+1 tell) 7092.1%
DUP0 5062.5%
Green0 10100.0%
Independent0 1050.0%
Lab0 238 (+2 tell)093.4%
LDem37 (+1 tell) 10085.7%
PC0 30100.0%
Respect0 10100.0%
SDLP0 30100.0%
SNP0 60100.0%
Total:310 276091.8%

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
Philip DaviesShipleyCon (front bench)no
David DavisHaltemprice and HowdenConno
Zac GoldsmithRichmond ParkCon (front bench)no
Charlotte LeslieBristol North WestCon (front bench)no
Anne MainSt AlbansCon (front bench)no
David NuttallBury NorthCon (front bench)no
Chris WhiteWarwick and LeamingtonCon (front bench)no
Michael CrockartEdinburgh WestLDem (front bench)no
Andrew GeorgeSt IvesLDem (front bench)no
Stephen GilbertSt Austell and NewquayLDem (front bench)no
Martin HorwoodCheltenhamLDemno
Julian HuppertCambridgeLDem (front bench)no
Greg MulhollandLeeds North WestLDem (front bench)no
Alan ReidArgyll and ButeLDem (front bench)no
Adrian SandersTorbayLDem (front bench)no
Mark WilliamsCeredigionLDem (front bench)no
Roger WilliamsBrecon and RadnorshireLDem (front bench)no

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