Motion to Sit in Private — 22 Mar 2019 at 09:34

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 |

Public Whip is run as a free not-for-profit service. If you'd like to support us, please consider switching your (UK) electricity and/or gas to Octopus Energy or tip us via Ko-Fi.

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
Edward ArgarCharnwoodCon (front bench)no
Victoria AtkinsLouth and HorncastleCon (front bench)no
Hilary BennLeeds CentralLab (minister)no
Nick BrownNewcastle upon Tyne EastLab (minister)no
Chris BryantRhonddaLab (minister)no
Richard BurdenBirmingham, NorthfieldLab (minister)no
Alex BurghartBrentwood and OngarConno
Alistair BurtNorth East Bedfordshirewhilst Con (front bench)no
Alan CampbellTynemouthLab (minister)no
Bambos CharalambousEnfield, SouthgateLab (minister)no
Christopher ChopeChristchurchCon (front bench)no
Julie CooperBurnleyLab (minister)no
Stella CreasyWalthamstowLabno
Jim CunninghamCoventry SouthLabno
Glyn DaviesMontgomeryshireConno
Mims DaviesEastleighCon (front bench)no
Philip DaviesShipleyCon (front bench)no
Marsha de CordovaBatterseaLab (minister)no
Thangam DebbonaireBristol WestLab (minister)tellno
Leo DochertyAldershotCon (front bench)no
Anneliese DoddsOxford EastLab (minister)no
Michelle DonelanChippenhamCon (front bench)no
Maria EagleGarston and HalewoodLabno
Clive EffordElthamLab (minister)no
Chris ElmoreOgmoreLab (minister)tellno
Bill EstersonSefton CentralLab (minister)no
Nigel EvansRibble ValleyCon (front bench)no
Vicky FordChelmsfordCon (front bench)no
Vicky FoxcroftLewisham, DeptfordLab (minister)no
Mark FrancoisRayleigh and WickfordCon (front bench)no
Mike FreerFinchley and Golders GreenCon (front bench)no
Hugh GaffneyCoatbridge, Chryston and BellshillLab (minister)no
Roger GaleNorth ThanetCon (front bench)no
Nusrat GhaniWealdenCon (front bench)no
Nick GibbBognor Regis and LittlehamptonCon (front bench)no
John GlenSalisburyCon (front bench)no
Kate GreenStretford and UrmstonLab (minister)no
Margaret GreenwoodWirral WestLab (minister)no
Kirstene HairAngusCon (front bench)no
Stephen HammondWimbledonwhilst Con (front bench)no
Greg HandsChelsea and FulhamConno
David HansonDelynLab (minister)no
Rebecca HarrisCastle PointCon (front bench)no
Philip HolloboneKetteringCon (front bench)no
John HowellHenleyCon (front bench)no
Gerald JonesMerthyr Tydfil and RhymneyLab (minister)no
Mike KaneWythenshawe and Sale EastLab (minister)no
Julian KnightSolihullCon (front bench)no
Mark LancasterMilton Keynes NorthCon (front bench)no
Pauline LathamMid DerbyshireCon (front bench)no
Jack LoprestiFilton and Bradley StokeCon (front bench)no
Rachel MacleanRedditchContellaye
Chris MathesonCity of ChesterLab (minister)no
Jim McMahonOldham West and RoytonLab (minister)no
Anna McMorrinCardiff NorthLab (minister)no
Ian MearnsGatesheadLab (minister)no
Amanda MillingCannock ChaseCon (front bench)no
Wendy MortonAldridge-BrownhillsCon (front bench)no
Alex NorrisNottingham NorthLab (minister)no
Neil O'BrienHarboroughConno
Chi OnwurahNewcastle upon Tyne CentralLab (minister)no
Matthew PennycookGreenwich and WoolwichLab (minister)no
John PenroseWeston-Super-MareCon (front bench)no
Claire PerryDevizesCon (front bench)no
Christopher PincherTamworthCon (front bench)no
Matt RoddaReading EastLab (minister)no
Danielle RowleyMidlothianLab (minister)no
David RutleyMacclesfieldCon (front bench)no
Tulip SiddiqHampstead and KilburnLab (minister)no
Dennis SkinnerBolsoverLabno
Ruth SmeethStoke-on-Trent NorthLab (minister)no
Cat SmithLancaster and FleetwoodLab (minister)no
Chloe SmithNorwich NorthCon (front bench)no
Jeff SmithManchester, WithingtonLab (minister)no
Julian SmithSkipton and RiponCon (front bench)no
Gareth SnellStoke-on-Trent CentralLab (minister)no
Jo StevensCardiff CentralLab (minister)no
Graham StuartBeverley and HoldernessCon (front bench)no
Rishi SunakRichmond (Yorks)Con (front bench)no
Paul SweeneyGlasgow North EastLab (minister)no
Mark TamiAlyn and DeesideLab (minister)no
Maggie ThroupErewashContellaye
Justin TomlinsonNorth SwindonCon (front bench)no
Liz TwistBlaydonLab (minister)no
Valerie VazWalsall SouthLab (minister)no
Matt WesternWarwick and LeamingtonLab (minister)no
Paul WilliamsStockton SouthLab (minister)no
Daniel ZeichnerCambridgeLab (minister)no

About the Project

The Public Whip is a not-for-profit, open source website created in 2003 by Francis Irving and Julian Todd and now run by Bairwell Ltd.

The Whip on the Web

Help keep PublicWhip alive