Print Acts of Parliament on Paper instead of Vellum — rejected — 1 Nov 1999
The majority of MPs voted against discontinuing the practice of printing all Public Acts of Parliament in duplicate on vellum (calf hide).
This went against a vote in the House of Lords[1] as well as the recommendations of a Select Committee.[2]
The campaign to retain the tradition of continuing to print Acts of Parliament on animal skin was led by Brian White in whose constituency the vellum manufacturer was based.[3] (He assured the House that it was calf-skin, not goat skin.)[4]
The current cost of printing Acts on vellum is approximately £32 per page.[5]
- [1] Nick Palmer MP, House of Commons, 1 November 1999
- [2] Select Committee on Administration, Note by the Clerk of the House, 7 May 1999
- [3] Goat skin tradition wins the day, BBC News, 2 November 1999
- [4] Brian White MP, House of Commons, 1 November 1999
- [5] Contract for producing vellum copies of Acts, Freedom of Information request, 24 September 2008
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.
| Party | Majority (No) | Minority (Aye) | Both | Turnout |
| Con | 27 | 3 | 0 | 18.6% |
| Lab | 91 (+2 tell) | 38 (+2 tell) | 0 | 32.0% |
| LDem | 3 | 12 | 0 | 32.6% |
| Total: | 121 | 53 | 0 | 28.6% |
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
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