Lisbon Treaty — Increase of powers of European Parliament — 3 Mar 2008 at 22:30

The majority Aye voters successfully carried the motion[1] that clause 4 of the European Union (Amendment) Bill should remain in the Bill.

This was a particularly important clause as it allowed the increased powers of the European Parliament under the Treaty of Lisbon by referencing the European Parliamentary Elections Act 2002 which required that:

  • 'No treaty which provides for any increase in the powers of the European Parliament is to be ratified by the United Kingdom unless it has been approved by an Act of Parliament.'

The No voters by and large conceded this point but argued that the Government had not spelled out what increased powers the European Parliament would get under the Lisbon Treaty and that there was no chance to debate them because of "the way in which the Government have rigged the debate on the treaty, time and again."[2]

However, Jim Murphy MP argued that:[3]

  • 'These reforms are supported by political parties across the EU. They are supported by the Governments and the main Opposition parties in all 27 countries of the EU. It would be a shame if, in the UK alone, one major political party opposed these extensions as they are now proposed as a consequence of the Lisbon treaty.'

The European Union (Amendment) Bill implements the Lisbon Treaty into UK law. The main aims of the Lisbon Treaty were to[4]:

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Debate in Parliament | 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 (Aye)Minority (No)BothTurnout
Con1 146 (+2 tell)077.2%
DUP0 1011.1%
Independent0 1020.0%
Lab280 (+2 tell) 3081.0%
LDem35 0157.1%
PC3 00100.0%
SNP4 0066.7%
Total:323 151175.9%

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
Kenneth ClarkeRushcliffeCon (front bench)aye
Ian DavidsonGlasgow South WestLab (minister)no
David DrewStroudLab (minister)no
Kelvin HopkinsLuton NorthLab (minister)no
Mike HancockPortsmouth SouthLDem (front bench)both

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