Mr Heath was applauded from all sides of the house for bringing the bill and gained 172 signatures in support to bring it to this stage, yet the LibDem member for Somerton and Frome failed at the first hurdle despite gaining the overwhelming support of voting members in the House of Commons - 89 for to 2 against.
Of the 94 voters, 20 Conservatives (out of 193), 28 Labour (out of 350), 45 Liberal Democrats (out of 63) and 1 independent were counted through the lobbies.
13 Tories who signed the bill did not vote, as did 58 Labour and 17 LibDem members.
Conservative shadow energy minister Charles Hendry expressed 'profound concern', while LibDems are angry at the apparent betrayal for partisan motives.
As Alix Mortimer comments:
"Labour, the supposed party of the working man and the disadvantaged, has prevented its own people from supporting the cause of some of the poorest people in society all for the sake of not having an opposition bill go through."Conservative MP for Reading East, Rob Wilson did not sign the bill and did not vote.
Mr Salter states that he will continue to lobby ministers to take necessary action.
Oranjepan says:
If Mr Salter really cared about the vulnerable in society he would have been better advised to lobby any 11 of his 58 party colleagues who signed the bill not to leave work early on a Friday afternoon than to waste his time with ministers who have ulterior motives.
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Update: Reading LibDems pick up on this story, attacking the inaction of their Conservative counterparts despite 'official' support for the bill.
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