Comparison of Divisions: Counter-Terrorism Bill — Extension of Maximim Period of Police Detention Without Charge in Terror Cases from 28 to 42 Days — 11 Jun 2008 at 17:45 with Division No. 84 on 9 Nov 2005 at 16:30

(Swap the two divisions around).

Vote (a) : Counter-Terrorism Bill — Extension of Maximim Period of Police Detention Without Charge in Terror Cases from 28 to 42 Days - 11 Jun 2008 at 17:45 - Division No. 219

The majority of MPs voted to extend the period of police detention without making any criminal charges of terrorist suspects from 28 days[1] to 42 days, subject to a complex series of bureaucratic procedures. See also the next vote which outlined the powers themselves.

The procedures include:

  • Statement - The Home Secretary must make a statement that a grave exceptional terrorist threat has occurred or is occurring for which this power to detain suspects without charge beyond 28 days is necessary for the purposes of investigation and bringing to justice those responsible.[2]
  • Legal advice - Independent legal advice (from a lawyer not employed by the Government) must be obtained as to whether the Home Secretary can be properly satisfied by his or her statement.[3]
  • DPP report - A report must be made by the Director of Public Prosecutions and the chief police officer which states that there are reasonable grounds to believe that the detention of one or more persons beyond 28 days will be necessary to obtain or preserve evidence that relates to the commission by the detained person or persons of a serious terrorist offence.[4]
  • Committee chairs - A copy of the legal advice and the report must be provided in confidence to the chairmen of the Home Affairs Committee, Joint Committee on Human Rights, and the Intelligence and Security Committee.[5]

Although this threatened to be the largest Labour Party rebellion for Gordon Brown,[6] a bigger one occurred six weeks earlier.[7]

A comparison between MPs' votes on the 90 day detention and this 42 day detention is here or reported in the Guardian here. The list of related Parliamentary votes on detaining persons without charge is here.

Vote (b) : Terrorism Bill — Extension Of Period Of Detention to 90 Days - 9 Nov 2005 at 16:30 - Division No. 84

The majority of MPs voted against extending the period of police detention of a terrorist suspects without presenting charges of a crime to 90 days.

They did this by voting against the restatement from "3 months" to "ninety days"[1] of the time limit proposed in the bill.[2]

Had this restatement been allowed, then all further amendments to revise this proposal downwards (to 28 days in the case of the next vote)[3] would have been blocked.[4]

Note to readers: This is the first Government defeat in a whipped vote since 1997, managing to overturn their majority of 66.

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Difference in Votes - sorted by party

MPs for which their vote on Motion (a) differed from their vote on Motion (b). You can also see just opposite votes between these two divisions, or simply all the votes.

Sort by: Name | Constituency | Party | Vote (a) | Vote (b)

NameConstituencyPartyVote (a)Vote (b)
Ann WiddecombeMaidstone and The WealdConaye absent
Peter TapsellLouth and HorncastleConno aye
Tony BaldryBanburyConno absent
Michael MatesEast HampshireCon (front bench)no absent
Bob NeillBromley and ChislehurstCon (front bench)no absent
Nicholas SoamesMid SussexCon (front bench)no absent
John StanleyTonbridge and MallingCon (front bench)no absent
Edward TimpsonCrewe and NantwichConno absent
John BercowBuckinghamwhilst Con (front bench)absent no
Derek ConwayOld Bexley and Sidcupwhilst Con (front bench)absent no
Quentin DaviesGrantham and Stamfordwhilst Con (front bench)absent no
Boris JohnsonHenleyCon (front bench)absent no
Andrew PellingCroydon Centralwhilst Con (front bench)absent no
Bob SpinkCastle Pointwhilst Con (front bench)absent no
Gregory CampbellEast LondonderryDUP (front bench)aye no
Nigel DoddsBelfast NorthDUP (front bench)aye no
Jeffrey M. DonaldsonLagan ValleyDUP (front bench)aye no
William McCreaSouth AntrimDUP (front bench)aye no
Ian PaisleyNorth AntrimDUPaye no
Iris RobinsonStrangfordDUPaye no
Peter RobinsonBelfast EastDUPaye no
David SimpsonUpper BannDUP (front bench)aye no
Sammy WilsonEast AntrimDUP (front bench)aye no
Dai DaviesBlaenau GwentIndependentaye absent
Derek ConwayOld Bexley and Sidcupwhilst Independent (front bench)no absent
Andrew PellingCroydon Centralwhilst Independent (front bench)no absent
Robert WareingLiverpool, West Derbywhilst Independentno absent
Peter LawBlaenau GwentIndependentabsent no
Clare ShortBirmingham, Ladywoodwhilst Independent Labourno absent
Michael ClaphamBarnsley West and PenistoneLab (minister)aye no
Ann CryerKeighleyLab (minister)aye no
David HamiltonMidlothianLab (minister)aye no
Doug HendersonNewcastle upon Tyne NorthLabaye no
Siân JamesSwansea EastLab (minister)aye no
Sadiq KhanTootingLab (minister)aye no
Mark LazarowiczEdinburgh North and LeithLab (minister)aye no
Tony LloydManchester CentralLab (minister)aye no
Andrew LoveEdmontonLab (minister)aye no
Chris McCaffertyCalder ValleyLabaye no
George MudieLeeds EastLab (minister)aye no
Dennis SkinnerBolsoverLab (minister)aye no
Peter SoulsbyLeicester SouthLab (minister)aye no
Jon TrickettHemsworthLabaye no
Quentin DaviesGrantham and Stamfordwhilst Lab (front bench)aye absent
Ann McKechinGlasgow NorthLab (minister)aye absent
Austin MitchellGreat GrimsbyLab (minister)aye absent
Denis MurphyWansbeckLab (minister)aye absent
Geoffrey RobinsonCoventry North WestLabaye absent
Christine RussellCity of ChesterLab (minister)aye absent
Virendra SharmaEaling, SouthallLab (minister)aye absent
John SmithVale of GlamorganLab (minister)aye absent
Gavin StrangEdinburgh EastLab (minister)aye absent
Phil WilsonSedgefieldLab (minister)aye absent
Andrew DismoreHendonLab (minister)no aye
Paul FarrellyNewcastle-under-LymeLab (minister)no aye
Andrew MacKinlayThurrockLab (minister)no aye
Doug NaysmithBristol North WestLab (minister)no aye
Frank CookStockton NorthLab (minister)no absent
David DrewStroudLab (minister)no absent
Dai HavardMerthyr Tydfil and RhymneyLab (minister)no absent
David TaylorNorth West LeicestershireLab (minister)both no
Charlotte AtkinsStaffordshire MoorlandsLab (minister)absent aye
Tony BlairSedgefieldLababsent aye
Karen BuckRegent's Park and Kensington NorthLab (minister)absent aye
Piara S KhabraEaling, SouthallLababsent aye
David MarshallGlasgow EastLababsent aye
Edward O'HaraKnowsley SouthLab (minister)absent aye
Mark ToddSouth DerbyshireLab (minister)absent aye
Rudi VisFinchley and Golders GreenLababsent aye
John AustinErith and ThamesmeadLab (minister)absent no
Gwyneth DunwoodyCrewe and NantwichLababsent no
Nick RaynsfordGreenwich and WoolwichLababsent no
Clare ShortBirmingham, Ladywoodwhilst Lababsent no
Robert WareingLiverpool, West Derbywhilst Lababsent no
Willie RennieDunfermline and West FifeLDem (front bench)no absent
Bob SpinkCastle Pointwhilst UKIP (front bench)aye absent

Division Similarity Ratio

The measure of similarity between these two divisions is a calculation based on a comparison of their votes.

There were 645 MPs who could have voted in both of these divisions, and 572 voted the same way, with 30 voting in opposite ways. There were 12 MPs who didn't vote in either division, and 31 who voted in only one of them.

We invert the vote on the second division if it makes the distance closer (since the meaning of 'Aye' and 'No' are often interchangeable depending on how the question was put). In this case, they line up the same way. An 's vote in in only one of the divisions contributes a factor of 0.2 to the distance. The calculation runs as follows:

ratio =
[same-votes]
([same-votes] + [differing-votes] + 0.2x[abstain-in-one])
=
572
(572 + 30 + 0.2x31)
=
572
608.2
= 0.940 = 94.0 %.


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