European Union Referendum Bill — New Clause 11 — Restrictions on Government Activities Which Could Influence Referendum — 7 Sep 2015 at 20:57
The majority of MPs voted not to restrict Government activities which could influence the referendum on the United Kingdom's membership of the European Union.
The rejected proposals would have prevented a referendum taking place until arrangements for such restrictions, which would apply in the five weeks before the referendum date, were in place.
MPs were considering the European Union Referendum Bill.[1]
The amendment rejected in this vote was[2]:
Amendment 11, page 5, line 28, at end insert—
- “(1A) (a) Section 1 will come into effect after a resolution has been passed by both Houses approving arrangements for a purdah period covering a period of five weeks before the referendum date.
- (b) arrangements for a purdah period will include—
- (i) restrictions on material that can be published by the government, public bodies and the EU institutions; and
- (ii) measures to determine breaches of purdah and penalties for such a breach.”
Purdah is jargon for the period in the run-up to a UK election when government is prevented from making announcements about any new or controversial government initiatives which could impact the election.
The rejected amendment was accompanied by a statement of its intent[2] saying:
- The referendum provision of the Bill could only come into effect after arrangements for purdah had been approved by both Houses of Parliament.
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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.
| Party | Majority (No) | Minority (Aye) | Both | Turnout |
| Con | 308 (+2 tell) | 8 | 0 | 96.4% |
| DUP | 0 | 6 | 0 | 75.0% |
| Green | 0 | 1 | 0 | 100.0% |
| Independent | 1 | 0 | 0 | 100.0% |
| Lab | 202 | 3 | 2 | 89.2% |
| LDem | 1 | 0 | 0 | 12.5% |
| PC | 0 | 3 | 0 | 100.0% |
| SDLP | 0 | 3 | 0 | 100.0% |
| SNP | 0 | 53 (+2 tell) | 0 | 98.2% |
| UKIP | 0 | 1 | 0 | 100.0% |
| UUP | 2 | 0 | 0 | 100.0% |
| Total: | 514 | 78 | 2 | 92.7% |
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 |
| Bill Cash | Stone | Con (front bench) | aye |
| Philip Davies | Shipley | Con (front bench) | aye |
| Stewart Jackson | Peterborough | Con (front bench) | aye |
| Bernard Jenkin | Harwich and North Essex | Con (front bench) | aye |
| Stephen McPartland | Stevenage | Con | aye |
| David Nuttall | Bury North | Con (front bench) | aye |
| Owen Paterson | North Shropshire | Con | aye |
| Andrew Turner | Isle of Wight | Con (front bench) | aye |
| Ronnie Campbell | Blyth Valley | Lab | aye |
| Dennis Skinner | Bolsover | Lab | aye |
| Keith Vaz | Leicester East | Lab (minister) | aye |
| Margaret Beckett | Derby South | Lab | both |
| Kelvin Hopkins | Luton North | Lab (minister) | both |