Royal Assent — Eurozone Financial Assistance — 24 May 2011 at 15:50

The majority of MPs voted to dilute the strength of the UK's opposition to bailouts by the EU of member countries in financial trouble.

The motion under debate, moved by Mark Reckless MP[1] read:

  • "That this House
  • notes with concern that UK taxpayers are potentially being made liable for bail-outs of Eurozone countries when the UK opted to remain outside the Euro and, despite agreement in May 2010 that the EU-wide European Financial Stability Mechanism (EFSM) of €60 billion would represent only 12 per cent of the non-IMF contribution with the remaining €440 billion being borne by the Eurozone through the European Financial Stability Facility (EFSF), that the EFSM for which the UK may be held liable is in fact being drawn upon to the same or a greater extent than the EFSF;
  • further notes that the European Scrutiny Committee has stated its view that the EFSM is legally unsound;and
  • requires the Government to place the EFSM on the agenda of the next meeting of the Council of Ministers or the European Council and to vote against continued use of the EFSM unless a Eurozone-only arrangement which relieves the UK of liability under the EFSM has by then been agreed.

Via this division the majority of MPs agreed to make the following amendment to the original motion tabled by Chris Heaton-Harris MP:

  • to leave out from ‘unsound’ to the end of the Question and add:
  • "urges the Government to raise the issue of the EFSM at the next meeting of the Council of Ministers or the European Council; and supports any measures which would lead to an agreement for a Eurozone-only arrangement."

Once the amendment was accepted the amended motion was passed without a vote.

Speaking in the debate preceding the vote Mark Reckless MP said:

  • If they believe that it is sufficient to urge the Government to raise the issue, then vote yes to the amendment regrettably tabled by my hon. Friend Chris Heaton-Harris. If they believe that we need to put a stop to these bail-outs and say, “Enough is enough, it is our money, we did not join your currency, and we want our money back”, then vote no to the amendment.

The text of the motion was more strongly against bailouts before the amendment.

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
Con221 (+2 tell) 28 (+2 tell)082.7%
DUP0 3037.5%
Lab3 1507.0%
LDem42 0073.7%
PC1 0033.3%
Total:267 46050.2%

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
Steven BakerWycombeCon (front bench)no
Andrew BinghamHigh PeakCon (front bench)no
Peter BoneWellingboroughCon (front bench)tellno
Douglas CarswellClactonConno
Bill CashStoneCon (front bench)no
James ClappisonHertsmereCon (front bench)no
Philip DaviesShipleyCon (front bench)no
David DavisHaltemprice and HowdenConno
Nick de BoisEnfield NorthCon (front bench)no
Richard DraxSouth DorsetCon (front bench)no
Zac GoldsmithRichmond ParkCon (front bench)no
James GrayNorth WiltshireCon (front bench)no
Gordon HendersonSittingbourne and SheppeyCon (front bench)no
Philip HolloboneKetteringCon (front bench)no
Bernard JenkinHarwich and North EssexCon (front bench)no
Edward LeighGainsboroughCon (front bench)no
Anne MainSt AlbansCon (front bench)tellno
Jason McCartneyColne ValleyConno
Karl McCartneyLincolnConno
David NuttallBury NorthCon (front bench)no
Andrew PercyBrigg and GooleCon (front bench)no
Mark RecklessRochester and StroodCon (front bench)no
John RedwoodWokinghamConno
Jacob Rees-MoggNorth East SomersetCon (front bench)no
Bob StewartBeckenhamCon (front bench)no
Justin TomlinsonNorth SwindonCon (front bench)no
Andrew TurnerIsle of WightCon (front bench)no
Martin VickersCleethorpesConno
Charles WalkerBroxbourneCon (front bench)no
Sarah WollastonTotnesCon (front bench)no
Kevin BarronRother ValleyLab (minister)aye
Michael ConnartyLinlithgow and East FalkirkLab (minister)aye
Brian H DonohoeCentral AyrshireLabaye

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