Communications Allowance — establishment — 28 Mar 2007 at 15:20
The Majority voted to approve the report of the Members Estimate Committee[1], and to establish on 1 April a Communications Allowance,[2] for the purpose of assisting MPs with expenditure incurred in communicating with the public about Parliamentary business at the rate of £10,000 per year. This followed a preliminary vote the previous year.[3]
The Communications Allowance is for Parliamentary, but not party political or personal business and can be used to fund regular reports and constituency newsletters, questionnaires and surveys, petitions, targeted communications, contact cards, distributions costs including direct mailing and postage, and websites.
The type of information that is allowable includes information about the Member, information about Parliament, details of how to get in touch, on-line surgeries, details of surgeries, press releases about work as a Member, links to public service and other websites, website design and maintenance, and blogs.
The type of information that it should not be used includes business activities, fund raising, promotion of a political party, or political campaigning for or against anyone in an election.
Investigations into complaints about the use of this allowance are heard (and published) by the Standards and Privileges Committee.[4]
- [1] Members Estimate - First Report, 13 March 2007, House of Commons
- [2] MPs vote for £10,000 web funding 28 March 2007, BBC.
- [3] Division 335, 1 November 2007, House of Commons.
- [4] Standards and Privileges Committee, established 13 July 2005, House of Commons.
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 (Aye) | Minority (No) | Both | Turnout |
Con | 2 | 148 (+2 tell) | 0 | 77.6% |
DUP | 0 | 3 | 0 | 33.3% |
Independent | 0 | 2 | 0 | 100.0% |
Lab | 262 (+2 tell) | 2 | 0 | 75.6% |
LDem | 19 | 26 | 0 | 71.4% |
PC | 0 | 2 | 0 | 66.7% |
SDLP | 0 | 1 | 0 | 33.3% |
SNP | 0 | 3 | 0 | 50.0% |
UUP | 0 | 1 | 0 | 100.0% |
Total: | 283 | 188 | 0 | 74.8% |
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
Name | Constituency | Party | Vote |
Quentin Davies | Grantham and Stamford | whilst Con | aye |
Bob Spink | Castle Point | whilst Con | aye |
Kelvin Hopkins | Luton North | Lab | no |
Lynne Jones | Birmingham, Selly Oak | Lab | no |
Danny Alexander | Inverness, Nairn, Badenoch and Strathspey | LDem | aye |
Tom Brake | Carshalton and Wallington | LDem | aye |
Colin Breed | South East Cornwall | LDem | aye |
Paul Burstow | Sutton and Cheam | LDem | aye |
Lorely Burt | Solihull | LDem | aye |
Vincent Cable | Twickenham | LDem | aye |
Lynne Featherstone | Hornsey and Wood Green | LDem | aye |
Don Foster | Bath | LDem | aye |
Mike Hancock | Portsmouth South | LDem | aye |
Nick Harvey | North Devon | LDem | aye |
Susan Kramer | Richmond Park | LDem | aye |
Michael Moore | Berwickshire, Roxburgh and Selkirk | LDem | aye |
Greg Mulholland | Leeds North West | LDem | aye |
Mark Oaten | Winchester | LDem | aye |
Alan Reid | Argyll and Bute | LDem | aye |
Dan Rogerson | North Cornwall | LDem | aye |
Bob Russell | Colchester | LDem | aye |
Stephen Williams | Bristol West | LDem | aye |
Jennifer Willott | Cardiff Central | LDem | aye |