Tuesday 19 May 2009

It's The Vote That Counts

Public Whip provides the information on MPs voting records. Here it shows how they decided on last summer's failed reform of MPs expenses.

Berkshire's MPs voted as follows (listed alphabetically):

In the aye lobby (opposing the reforms) -
Andrew MacKay (Con), Bracknell

In the no lobby (supporting the reforms) -
Fiona MacTaggart (Lab), Slough
Theresa May (Con), Maidenhead

Absent -
Adam Afriyie (Con), Windsor
Richard Benyon (Con), Newbury
John Redwood (Con), Wokingham
Martin Salter (Lab), Reading West
Rob Wilson (Con), Reading East

Oranjepan asks:
Should it be assumed that those MPs who absented themselves from the vote were happy for the system to continue as it was, or that they thought it was of too little public concern to spend their time voting?

-

Update: The votes for all parties across the country were as follows:

PartyMajority (Aye)Minority (No)BothTurnout
Con21 54 (+1 tell)039.6%
Ind2 0040.0%
Lab146 (+2 tell) 50257.1%
LDem0 35 (+1 tell)057.1%
SNP0 2033.3%
UKIP0 01100.0%
Total:169 141051.4%

10 comments:

  1. In case you haven't noticed, not every MP votes on every single issue.

    Should it be assumed that these Lib Dem MPs who absented themselves from the vote were happy for the system to continue as it was, or that they thought it was of too little public concern to spend their time voting?

    John Barrett (Lib Dem)
    Tom Brake (Lib Dem)
    Colin Breed (Lib Dem)
    Jeremy Browne (Lib Dem)
    Lorely Burt (Lib Dem)
    Menzies Campbell (Lib Dem)
    Nicholas Clegg (Lib Dem)
    Tim Farron (Lib Dem)
    Lynne Featherstone (Lib Dem)
    Sandra Gidley (Lib Dem)
    David Heath (Lib Dem)
    John Hemming (Lib Dem)
    Charles Kennedy (Lib Dem)
    David Laws (Lib Dem)
    John Leech (Lib Dem)
    Michael Moore (Lib Dem)
    Mark Oaten (Lib Dem)
    Lembit Öpik (Lib Dem)
    John Pugh (Lib Dem)
    Willie Rennie (Lib Dem)
    Daniel Rogerson (Lib Dem)
    Paul Rowen (Lib Dem)
    Adrian Sanders (Lib Dem)
    Jo Swinson (Lib Dem)
    John Thurso (Lib Dem)
    Steve Webb (Lib Dem)
    Richard Younger-Ross (Lib Dem)

    ReplyDelete
  2. Thanks for reading Anon,
    as you will know this blog has a specific focus on political matters in the Reading & District area, which includes Berkshire.

    However I am disappointed that you are obscuring the substantive point by trying to turn a political point into a partisan point.

    It is unfortunate that there are no LibDem MPs in Berkshire as this does give the appearance of partisan bias on my part, so I'd like to thank you for following the link and being able to copy & paste.

    So for the purposes of balance I've now provided a table of the voting patterns.

    What is interesting from the list of names is that all those MPs who have been most heavily criticised voted to oppose the reforms.

    Elliot Morley, Andrew MacKay and his wife Julie Kirkbride (among others) are all notable by their presence in the aye lobby opposing reforms. They clearly knew what they were doing.

    It is notable that no LibDems or SNP members voted to oppose reform, while no Plaid Cymru, DUP or SDLP members voted.

    ReplyDelete
  3. It is also interesting that the size of the majority corresponds with the number of non-voting LibDems plus one.

    Suggests a stitch-up to me.

    ReplyDelete
  4. I was not trying to make a party political point, just pointing out that not every MP votes on every issue. You mentioned only Labour and Lib Dem and tried to make a party political point out of that, so it's only fair to reproduce your comment with Lib Dems.

    ReplyDelete
  5. ahem, so it's not even indirectly party political to accuse others of partisanship?

    May I then ask you directly: have you any party affiliations or sympathies we should be aware of in order to discern for ourselves the likelihood, scale and type of your biasedness?

    ReplyDelete
  6. Can i ask you if you have any party political affiliation.

    I listed off the Lib Dem MPs as they neither voted for or against the motion. Nothing to do with Party affiliation, but if you want to drag others down to your level...

    ReplyDelete
  7. 21 corrupt tories voted with Labour. not exactly an effective opposition then.

    ReplyDelete
  8. If the 169 who voted aye all have something to hide ,which would appear possible, this whole story has quite a way to go yet!
    It seems to me that quite a few MPs of all parties will find that their positions are untenable.

    ReplyDelete
  9. Interesting that the statistics show a 100% turn out for the UKIP?
    What is it with statistics that makes me wary?

    ReplyDelete
  10. wary of statistics or wary of the conclusions drawn from them?

    ReplyDelete




"Reading List... is fantastic, it could help revolutinise politics in Reading"
Matt Blackall

"Prolific"
Matt Brady

"Irrelevant"
Adrian Windisch

"Bizarre"
Reading Geek Night

"A bloggers digest of the Berkshire blogosphere"
DMOZ

"An easily accessible collection of Berkshire's excellent blogs"
The Cookham Blogger

"An excellent digest of the thoughts of local bloggers"
Reading Guide

...