Referendum on Changing the Voting System for the House of Commons — 23 Jun 1999

The majority of MPs voted in favour of holding a referendum on any proposed change to the voting system used to elect members of the House of Commons. The majority of MPs also supported a national debate on the "Jenkins system"[1]; a mixed system of Alternative Vote, combined with Top-up seats.

The approved motion read:

That this House

  • recognises that different electoral systems may be appropriate for elections to different institutions;
  • commends the Government's commitment to let the final decision on the voting system for the House of Commons be made by the people in a referendum; and
  • welcomes the Government's approach which allows for a full debate in the country on the merits of the Jenkins system[1] before a referendum is held.
  • [1] The Jenkins Report on Voting Systems 10 December 1998

Historical Hansard | Online Hansard |

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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
Con0 136 (+2 tell)085.2%
DUP0 1050.0%
Lab326 (+2 tell) 0078.8%
LDem38 0082.6%
PC1 0025.0%
UUP0 6060.0%
Total:365 143080.0%

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
no rebellions

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