Motion to Sit in Private — 16 Oct 2015 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 name

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
Heidi AlexanderLewisham EastLab (minister)no
Steven BakerWycombeCon (front bench)tellno
Andrew BinghamHigh PeakConno
Nicholas BolesGrantham and StamfordCon (front bench)no
Peter BottomleyWorthing WestCon (front bench)no
Julian BrazierCanterburyCon (front bench)no
Karen BuckWestminster NorthLab (minister)no
Alun CairnsVale of GlamorganCon (front bench)no
Alan CampbellTynemouthLab (minister)no
Alistair CarmichaelOrkney and ShetlandLDem (front bench)no
Christopher ChopeChristchurchCon (front bench)no
Therese CoffeySuffolk CoastalCon (front bench)no
Neil CoyleBermondsey and Old SouthwarkLabno
Philip DaviesShipleyCon (front bench)tellaye
Michael EllisNorthampton NorthCon (front bench)no
George EusticeCamborne and RedruthCon (front bench)no
Jim FitzpatrickPoplar and LimehouseLab (minister)no
George FreemanMid NorfolkCon (front bench)no
Mark GarnierWyre ForestCon (front bench)no
David GaukeSouth West HertfordshireCon (front bench)no
Robert GoodwillScarborough and WhitbyCon (front bench)no
Matthew HancockWest SuffolkCon (front bench)no
John HayesSouth Holland and The DeepingsCon (front bench)no
Chris Heaton-HarrisDaventryConno
George HollingberyMeon ValleyCon (front bench)no
Philip HolloboneKetteringCon (front bench)no
Kris HopkinsKeighleyCon (front bench)no
Margot JamesStourbridgeCon (front bench)no
Bernard JenkinHarwich and North EssexCon (front bench)no
Marcus JonesNuneatonCon (front bench)no
Andrea LeadsomSouth NorthamptonshireCon (front bench)no
Edward LeighGainsboroughCon (front bench)no
Grahame MorrisEasingtonLab (minister)tellno
Wendy MortonAldridge-BrownhillsCon (front bench)no
David NuttallBury NorthCon (front bench)tellaye
Matthew PennycookGreenwich and WoolwichLab (minister)no
John PenroseWeston-Super-MareCon (front bench)no
Dominic RaabEsher and WaltonCon (front bench)no
Grant ShappsWelwyn HatfieldCon (front bench)no
Dennis SkinnerBolsoverLabno
Henry SmithCrawleyConno
Julian SmithSkipton and RiponCon (front bench)no
Hugo SwireEast DevonCon (front bench)no
Edward TimpsonCrewe and NantwichCon (front bench)no
Justin TomlinsonNorth SwindonCon (front bench)no
Sarah WollastonTotnesCon (front bench)no

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