Motion to Sit in Private — 28 Nov 2014 at 09:30

The majority of MPs voted not to hold a private session of the House of Commons.

The text of the motion rejected in the vote was:

  • That the House sit in private.

The House of Commons' Standing Order No. 163 says:

  • If at any sitting of the House... any Member moves 'That the House sit in private' the Speaker... shall forthwith put the question 'That the House sit in private', and such question, though opposed, may be decided after the expiration of the time for opposed business, but such a Motion may be made no more than once in any sitting.

Moving the motion to sit in private is almost always a procedural tactic. By ensuring the defeat of a motion to sit in private at the beginning of the sitting, the mover makes it impossible for any member to move the motion during a subsequent debate.

If such a motion is brought during the debate on a Bill, and fewer than 40 MPs vote in it, then the debate ends immediately regardless of the result (following Standing Order 44). Such an ending of debate occurred on the 14th of March 2003. The points of order following that division show MPs questioning the appropriateness of the tactic.

Moving a motion to sit in private is often done first thing on a Friday morning. Moving the motion ensures it can't be moved later in the day, when MPs might have returned to their constituencies for the weekend and too few members may be present to reach the 40 member threshold leading to the discussion of the business before the house (typically private members' Bills) being brought to an end.

See also What is a motion to sit in private? from the PublicWhip FAQ.

Debate in Parliament | Source |

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All Votes Cast - sorted by party

MPs for which their vote in this division differed from the majority vote of their party are marked in red. Also shows which MPs were ministers at the time of this vote. You can also see every eligible MP including those who did not vote in this division.

Sort by: Name | Constituency | Party | Vote

NameConstituencyPartyVote
Philip HolloboneKetteringCon (front bench)tellaye
Jacob Rees-MoggNorth East SomersetCon (front bench)aye
Bob BlackmanHarrow EastCon (front bench)no
Nicola BlackwoodOxford West and AbingdonCon (front bench)no
Nicholas BolesGrantham and StamfordCon (front bench)no
Peter BottomleyWorthing WestCon (front bench)no
Christopher ChopeChristchurchCon (front bench)no
Greg ClarkTunbridge WellsCon (front bench)no
Jane EllisonBatterseaCon (front bench)no
George EusticeCamborne and RedruthCon (front bench)no
Mark FrancoisRayleigh and WickfordCon (front bench)no
David GaukeSouth West HertfordshireCon (front bench)no
Rebecca HarrisCastle PointCon (front bench)no
Damian HindsEast HampshireCon (front bench)tellno
Simon KirbyBrighton, KemptownConno
Mark LancasterMilton Keynes NorthCon (front bench)no
Matthew OffordHendonCon (front bench)no
Andrew SelousSouth West BedfordshireCon (front bench)no
Mel StrideCentral DevonCon (front bench)no
Desmond SwayneNew Forest WestCon (front bench)no
Edward TimpsonCrewe and NantwichCon (front bench)no
Ed VaizeyWantageCon (front bench)no
Ben WallaceWyre and Preston NorthCon (front bench)tellno
Caroline LucasBrighton, PavilionGreen (front bench)no
Jeremy CorbynIslington NorthLab (minister)tellaye
Heidi AlexanderLewisham EastLab (minister)no
Kevin BrennanCardiff WestLab (minister)no
Lyn BrownWest HamLab (minister)no
John CryerLeyton and WansteadLab (minister)no
Nicholas DakinScunthorpeLab (minister)no
Jim FitzpatrickPoplar and LimehouseLab (minister)no
Barry GardinerBrent NorthLab (minister)no
Kate HoeyVauxhallLab (minister)no
Dan JarvisBarnsley CentralLab (minister)no
Kevan JonesNorth DurhamLab (minister)no
Andrew MillerEllesmere Port and NestonLab (minister)no
Teresa PearceErith and ThamesmeadLab (minister)no
Andrew SlaughterHammersmithLab (minister)no
Iain WrightHartlepoolLab (minister)no
Annette BrookeMid Dorset and North PooleLDem (front bench)no
Lynne FeatherstoneHornsey and Wood GreenLDem (front bench)no
Don FosterBathLDem (front bench)no
Stephen GilbertSt Austell and NewquayLDem (front bench)no
David HeathSomerton and FromeLDem (front bench)no
Tessa MuntWellsLDem (front bench)no
Sarah TeatherBrent CentralLDem (front bench)no
Mike ThorntonEastleighLDem (front bench)no
Stephen WilliamsBristol WestLDem (front bench)no

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