Support For Members Who Have Chosen Not To Take Their Seats — 10 Mar 2005 at 16:29

Amendment proposed: (b), in line 4, leave out from "effect" to end.-[Mr. Lidington.]

Question put, That the amendment be made:-
The House divided: Ayes 171, Noes 357.

The amendment is to remove the detail of which parts of the 18 December 2001 Resolution be suspended. The Resolution allowed Sinn Féin MPs to gain some of the parliamentary privileges (office space and expenses, mainly) enjoyed by other MPs, but without having to take their seats (which would involve taking an Oath of Allegiance to the Queen).

The motion itself, as proposed by the Leader of the House and the Northern Ireland Secretary, suspends only the expenses for Sinn Féin MPs. This amendment, supported mainly by Conservatives and Unionists, would have suspended all their privileges. That it fell means that the four Sinn Féin MPs get to keep their office space and so on, but lose around £40,000-worth of expenses.

Debate in Parliament | Historical Hansard | 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
Con2 132 (+2 tell)084.5%
DUP0 6085.7%
Independent0 2066.7%
Lab334 (+2 tell) 5083.6%
LDem21 22078.2%
UUP0 4080.0%
Total:357 171083.3%

Rebel Voters - sorted by constituency

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
Alan ReidArgyll and ButeLDem (front bench)no
Don FosterBathLDem (front bench)no
Frank FieldBirkenheadLab (minister)aye
Sarah TeatherBrent EastLDem (front bench)no
Julian BrazierCanterburyCon (front bench)no
Tom BrakeCarshalton and WallingtonLDem (front bench)no
Mr Nigel JonesCheltenhamLDem (front bench)no
Mr Iain LukeDundee EastLab (minister)aye
Mrs Anne PickingEast LothianLab (minister)aye
Mr David ChidgeyEastleighLDem (front bench)no
Malcolm BruceGordonLDem (front bench)no
Andrew StunellHazel GroveLDem (front bench)no
Paul KeetchHerefordLDem (front bench)no
Mr Parmjit GillLeicester SouthLDemno
Norman BakerLewesLDemno
Mr Matthew GreenLudlowLDem (front bench)no
David HamiltonMidlothianLab (minister)aye
Lembit ÖpikMontgomeryshireLDem (front bench)no
Mr David RendelNewburyLDem (front bench)no
Dr Jenny TongeRichmond ParkLDemno
Charles KennedyRoss, Skye and Inverness WestLDem (front bench)no
Colin BreedSouth East CornwallLDem (front bench)no
Andrew GeorgeSt IvesLDem (front bench)no
Matthew TaylorTruro and St AustellLDem (front bench)no
Kate HoeyVauxhallLab (minister)aye
Mr Brian CotterWeston-Super-MareLDem (front bench)no
Mark OatenWinchesterLDem (front bench)no
Peter BottomleyWorthing WestCon (front bench)no

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