EU referendum amendment vote: full analysis

On Wednesday, MPs voted on an amendment
to the Queen’s Speech tabled by John Baron MP aimed at demonstrating support in Parliament
for a Bill that would write into law the holding
of an EU referendum.

Such a bill, Mr Baron argued, would serve to increase
public trust in David Cameron’s pledge that he will hold
an in-out EU referendum by the end of 2017.

—————————————————————————————————————————————————–

Official figures for Wednesday’s vote on an EU Referendum Bill have now been published in the House of Commons record Hansard (15 May 2013 : Column 749).

The amendment proposed by John Baron MP to the Queen’s Speech was as follows:
“This House respectfully regrets that an EU referendum bill was not included in the Gracious Speech.”

The vote listing shows that, including tellers (MPs who count the votes), 133 MPs voted that an EU referendum bill should have been included in the government’s legislative programme. The breakdown by party is as follows:

116 Conservatives
11   Labour
4    Democratic Unionists
1    Lib Dem (John Hemming MP)
1    Respect (George Galloway MP)

The amendment was, however, defeated by 280 MPs (including tellers) voting against a bill to provide for an EU referendum. The breakdown by party of  the ‘against’ the side was:

1    Conservative
220 Labour
48   Lib Dem
5    Scottish Nationalists
3    SDP
2    Plaid Cymru
1    Alliance

The lone Conservative recorded as having voted against an early EU referendum bill -  Kwasi Kwarteng, MP for Spelthorne – has since insisted to The Times that this was the mistake of a “rookie clerk” – and that his intention was to “deliberately abstain”. Even if so, this is still unlikely to be a popular course of action with his Surrey constituents.

The largest party grouping among the 228 MPs not present for the vote were Conservatives. According to reports ministers and those with government jobs were instructed to abstain, despite David Cameron also describing the decision on the amendment as a ‘free vote’. The number of absent MPs by party were:

187 Conservatives
24   Lab
8    Lib Dem
4    Democratic Unionist
1    Green (Caroline Lucas)
1    SNP
1    Plaid Cymru
2    Independent

Finally, the 9 MPs who never vote in the Commons are the Speaker, his three deputies and the five Sinn Fein MPs who do not attend Westminster.

In summary:  133 voted ‘for’, 280 voted ‘against’, 228 were absent and 9 don’t vote = 650 MPs.

Standing out in particular from these figures is the behaviour of the Scottish Nationalists. Given the referendum they have called for and secured on whether Scotland should remain in the United Kingdom, they surely cannot credibly oppose a referendum on whether the UK should remain in the European Union. We’d like to ask supporters of an EU referendum in Scotland who have an SNP Member of Parliament to get hold of their MP and ask them to explain the stance they took in this vote and to ask them to support the forthcoming EU Referendum Bill. We’d be really interested to see a copy of any replies received to mail@peoplespledge.org

Over the next few days we’ll be feeding the data on how individual MPs voted on Wednesday into our online database, so that each MP’s page on our website will be updated and everyone can easily check their MP’s record. In the meantime, listed below are the names of those MPs who voted to support an early EU Referendum Bill – and the names of some who have said that they support an EU referendum, but who either didn’t vote, or voted against Wednesday’s amendment.

Looking ahead, the People’s Pledge will be doing all we can to support the Private Member’s Bill for an EU Referendum now being taken forward by James Wharton MP. Keep watching for more on this front very soon.

———————————————–

These MPs voted in support of an early EU Referendum Bill:

116 Conservatives: Adam Afriyie (Windsor), Peter Aldous (Waveney), David Amess (Southend West), Stuart Andrew (Pudsey), Richard Bacon (Norfolk South), Steven Baker (Wycombe), Stephen Barclay (Cambridgeshire North East), John Baron (Basildon & Billericay), Gavin Barwell (Croydon Central), Guto Bebb (Aberconwy), Andrew Bingham (High Peak), Brian Binley (Northampton South), Crispin Blunt (Reigate), Peter Bone (Wellingborough), Graham Brady (Altrincham & Sale West), Andrew Bridgen (Leicestershire North West), Steve Brine (Winchester), Fiona Bruce (Congleton), Aidan Burley (Cannock Chase), Conor Burns (Bournemouth West), David Burrowes (Enfield Southgate), Dan Byles (Warwickshire North), Alun Cairns (Vale of Glamorgan), Bill Cash (Stone), Rehman Chishti (Gillingham & Rainham), Christopher Chope (Christchurch), James Clappison (Hertsmere), Geoffrey Cox (Devon West & Torridge), Tracey Crouch (Chatham & Aylesford), David Davies (Monmouth), Philip Davies (Shipley), David Davis (Haltemprice & Howden), Nick de Bois (Enfield North), Caroline Dinenage (Gosport), Nadine Dorries (Bedfordshire Mid),Richard Drax (Dorset South), James Duddridge (Rochford & Southend East), Graham Evans (Weaver Vale), Lorraine Fullbrook (South Ribble), Roger Gale (Thanet North), James Gray (Wiltshire North), Robert Halfon (Harlow), Simon Hart (Carmarthen West & Pembrokeshire South), Gordon Henderson (Sittingbourne & Sheppey), Philip Hollobone (Kettering), Sir Gerald Howarth (Aldershot), Stewart Jackson (Peterborough), Bernard Jenkin (Harwich & Essex North), Gareth Johnson (Dartford), Marcus Jones (Nuneaton), Daniel Kawczynski (Shrewsbury & Atcham), Chris Kelly (Dudley South), Simon Kirby (Brighton Kemptown), Andrea Leadsom (Northamptonshire South), Jessica Lee (Erewash), Phillip Lee (Bracknell), Edward Leigh (Gainsborough), Charlotte Leslie (Bristol North West), Julian Lewis (New Forest East), Ian Liddell-Grainger (Bridgwater & Somerset West), Jonathan Lord (Woking), Tim Loughton (Worthing East & Shoreham), Karen Lumley (Redditch), Jason McCartney (Colne Valley), Karl McCartney (Lincoln), Stephen McPartland (Stevenage), Anne Main (St Albans), Paul Maynard (Blackpool North & Cleveleys), Mark Menzies (Fylde), Patrick Mercer (Newark), Stephen Metcalfe (Basildon South & Thurrock East), Nigel Mills (Amber Valley), David Morris (Morecambe & Lunesdale), James Morris (Halesowen & Rowley Regis), Caroline Nokes (Romsey & Southampton North), David Nuttall (Bury North), Matthew Offord (Hendon), Eric Ollerenshaw (Lancaster & Fleetwood), Priti Patel (Witham), John Penrose (Weston-Super-Mare), Andrew Percy (Brigg & Goole), Stephen Phillips (Sleaford & North Hykeham), Chris Pincher (Tamworth), Dominic Raab (Esher & Walton), Mark Reckless (Rochester & Strood), John Redwood (Wokingham), Jacob Rees-Mogg (Somerset North East), Laurence Robertson (Tewkesbury), Andrew Rosindell (Romford), David Ruffley (Bury St Edmunds), Andrew Selous (Bedfordshire South West), Alec Shelbrooke (Elmet & Rothwell), Sir Richard Shepherd (Aldridge-Brownhills), Henry Smith (Crawley), Mark Spencer (Sherwood), Andrew Stephenson (Pendle), John Stevenson (Carlisle), Iain Stewart (Milton Keynes South), Gary Streeter (Devon South West), Mel Stride (Devon Central), Julian Sturdy (York Outer), Sir Peter Tapsell (Louth & Horncastle), Justin Tomlinson (Swindon North), David Tredinnick (Bosworth), Andrew Turner (Isle of Wight), Martin Vickers (Cleethorpes), Charles Walker (Broxbourne), Robin Walker (Worcester), James Wharton (Stockton South), Heather Wheeler (Derbyshire South), Chris White (Warwick & Leamington), Craig Whittaker (Calder Valley), John Whittingdale (Maldon), Bill Wiggin (Herefordshire North), Dr Sarah Wollaston (Totnes), Nadhim Zahawi (Stratford-on-Avon).

11 Labour: Rosie Cooper (Lancashire West), Jeremy Corbyn (Islington North), John Cryer (Leyton & Wanstead), Natascha Engel (Derbyshire North East), Frank Field (Birkenhead), Roger Godsiff (Birmingham Hall Green), Kate Hoey (Vauxhall), Kelvin Hopkins (Luton North), Grahame Morris (Easington), Dennis Skinner (Bolsover), Graham Stringer (Blackley & Broughton)

6 other: Lib Dem John Hemming (Birmingham Yardley): Respect George Galloway (Bradford West) and Democratic Unionists Nigel Dodds (Belfast North), Rev William McCrea (Antrim South), David Simpson (Upper Bann), Sammy Wilson (Antrim East).

———————————————–

These MPs have previously said that they support an EU referendum but were absent from Wednesday’s vote. Absence may not be a deliberate abstention. It could be for a number of reasons, such as illness, agreed absence and pairing, or attendance of one of the many Commons committees. In the case of Conservative absentees, some may have taken a political decision that it wasn’t necessary on this occasion to vote against their party’s wishes after David Cameron published a draft EU Referendum Bill just prior to Wednesday’s vote and pledged to give it official support.

Nevertheless, if your MP is listed below please do contact them to ask why they were not present, to encourage their support for an EU referendum and to obtain an undertaking that they will ensure they are present to vote when approval of the EU Referendum Bill comes before parliament. Absent MPs were:

15 Conservative: Henry Bellingham (North West Norfolk), Bob Blackman (Harrow East), Douglas Carswell (Clacton), Mark Field (Cities of London & Westminster), Mike Freer (Finchley & Golders Green), Zac Goldsmith (Richmond Park), Adam Holloway (Gravesham), Jeremy Lefroy (Stafford), Anne Marie Morris (Newton Abbot), Neil Parish (Tiverton & Honiton), Simon Reevell (Dewsbury), Mark Simmonds (Boston & Skegness), Bob Stewart (Beckenham), Mike Weatherley (Hove), Rob Wilson (Reading East).

4 Labour: Ronnie Campbell (Blyth Valley), Austin Mitchell (Great Grimsby), Derek Twigg (Halton), Keith Vaz (Leicester East)

7 other: Lib Dem Mike Hancock (Portsmouth South), Green Caroline Lucas (Brighton, Pavilion), Democratic Unionists Gregory Campbell (East Londonderry), Jeffrey Donaldson (Lagan Valley), Ian Paisley Jr (North Antrim), Jim Shannon (Strangford) and Independent Lady Hermon (North Down).

———————————————–

Finally, these MPs have said that they support an EU referendum but voted against a bill providing for that referendum being brought forward in this session of parliament. Presuming that they have not gone back on their previous support for an EU referendum – expressed, amongst other places, in videos shown on the People’s Pledge website (links below) – perhaps they objected to the timing of the Bill suggested by this amendment? If you are a constituent of one of the MPs below, please contact them to find out why they voted against this amendment and to encourage them to support the forthcoming EU Referendum Bill:

6 Labour: David Crausby (Bolton North East), Jon Cruddas (Dagenham & Rainham), Jim Fitzpatrick (Poplar & Limehouse), Tom Harris (Glasgow South), George Howarth (Knowsley), Gerry Sutcliffe (Bradford South).

—————————————————————————————————————————————————–

For the latest campaign news, please follow us on Twitter or add us as a friend on Facebook (sign in required) – and if you haven’t done so already, please sign the People’s Pledge today to help us get the support of all parties for an EU referendum.

Tweet

Success and Next Steps towards an EU referendum

The People’s Pledge celebrates its 2nd birthday this month, having made spectacular progress in our campaign for an EU referendum.

Now that the Prime Minister has switched his party’s policy to support an in-out EU vote, where next for the People’s Pledge campaign?

—————————————————————————————————————————————————————

The People’s Pledge has had a spectacular 18 months.

As recently as October 2011, the Prime Minister whipped his MPs to vote against an in-out EU referendum motion in Parliament.

By January this year, David Cameron had executed a remarkable turnaround.

In his recent speech on Britain’s relationship with the EU, he said: “When we have negotiated that new settlement, we will give the British people a referendum with a very simple in or out choice. To stay in the EU on these new terms; or come out altogether. It will be an in-out referendum”.

This welcome u-turn came after a busy year of  ground-breaking grassroots campaigning by the People’s Pledge.

Read the rest of this entry »

Tweet

Renegotiation and an EU referendum

Can David Cameron fundamentally renegotiate Britain’s membership of the EU and what does that mean for the referendum he recently promised?

People’s Pledge director Stuart Coster looks at the
Prime Minister’s options.

—————————————————————————————————————————————————————

Debate provoked in recent weeks by the Prime Minister’s speech about his plan to return some decisions from Brussels to Westminster and to hold a referendum on the outcome has centred on whether or not Britain should renegotiate its membership of the EU and, if so, which powers we should seek back.

Mainstream commentators, however, have almost completely ignored the methods by which any renegotiation could occur.

No doubt encouraged by Number 10, most journalists have been distracted into debating the desirability of EU renegotiation and not its feasibility, since a focus on process rather than substance would in fact highlight the fragility of David Cameron’s new EU policy.

All the potential methods of initiating a discussion with the EU about the balance of powers between Westminster and Brussels – short of informing the EU that the UK is leaving the club – are highly unlikely to deliver a formal negotiation, nevermind the agreement of the EU’s 26 other member countries to any changes the UK government demands.

Read the rest of this entry »

Tweet

The EU Referendum: Should it Happen, Will it Happen?

On Monday 11^th February, Kings College London hosted the second People’s Pledge debate on the issue of an EU referendum.

The debate was chaired by Will Straw, associate director at the IPPR. The eclectic panel consisted of Owen Jones, a left –wing writer who is currently a columnist for The Independent, the Conservative MP George Eustice, Liberal Democrat MEP Baroness Ludford, the former Conservative MEP John Stevens and Dr Gunnar Beck, an expert in EU law at SOAS.

Will Straw opened the debate by making the point that the Labour Party is the only party whose position is “veritably unclear” on a referendum, while the Liberal Democrats remain against an In/Out referendum.

The writer Owen Jones began by saying he believed Labour had made an error and should have listened to calls from Jon Cruddas to support a referendum. Jones, a left-Eurosceptic, went on to say, “I fear the Tories will be able to have an impact on the vote at the General Election, by supporting a referendum if Labour does not.” He, like many others, clearly believes Miliband has left himself with little room for manoeuvre, and will ultimately be forced to match David Cameron’s referendum promise.

He then moved on to why he believed a referendum was necessary and the importance of the debate on Britain’s membership of the EU. Although he is against withdrawal from the EU, he acknowledged a “very dramatic change” has occurred in Britain’s relationship with the EU since the 1975 referendum. Thus, a new referendum is required, as is the debate that will precede it. Jones welcomed such a debate but made it clear that he wanted the left to be as much a part of the discussion as the right. One of the reasons he said the Labour leader must match the Tories’ referendum offer was in order to neutralise the issue at the next general election so that the economics of austerity would be centre-stage in the battle between the parties.

In contrast to Jones’s position, Conservative MP George Eustice focused on the renegotiation process that will precede David Cameron’s promised referendum. He argued now was the time to push for a new relationship with Brussels, primarily because of the fiscal union treaty change that will take place in the near future. He added that if other countries do not “partake in a mature debate about renegotiation,” it will be much harder to keep Britain in Europe. He concluded by echoing the Prime Minster, saying: “I’m reluctant to get into the detail of a shopping list now on renegotiation.”

Read the rest of this entry »

Tweet

Guest Blog: Labour’s response to the EU referendum question

Since the Prime Minister’s long awaited speech on Europe last month the response from Labour and Ed Miliband has been uncertain to say the least. Miliband’s initial response at PMQ’s was to declare: “our position is no: we don’t want an in-out referendum.”

It was clearly an ill-advised statement, not least as the majority of voters are in favour of a referendum. In Mr Miliband’s own constituency of Doncaster North, 73% of voters want a chance to vote on Britain’s relationship with the EU.

Unsurprisingly, following possibly fevered discussion within the party, the position had been diluted to being against a referendum now, rather than for all time. What has not emerged since is a clear Labour position, and the party is in danger of being seen to flip-flop or ending up on the wrong side of the argument completely. Many Labour candidates contesting the European elections next year, and those fighting marginal seats in the general election 2015, cannot be relishing fighting Tory opponents armed with the referendum promise.

Despite their leader’s uncertainty there are those within the Labour Party who are fully in favour of a referendum. Among them are the head of the party’s policy review, Jon Cruddas, and Keith Vaz. Their pro-referendum sentiments will be joined by many within the party who believe a referendum to be inevitable and see it as pointless to rule it out completely. Moreover, a continued failure to support a referendum will see repeated questioning about why Miliband does not ‘trust the people’. Therefore, it appears he may be compelled to eventually match the Prime Minister’s referendum promise.

However, as it stands the party remains against an in-out referendum and there will be significant internal wrangling before that position changes. All the while the battle lines for a future referendum are already emerging.

Last week saw the launch of the pro-EU Centre for British Influence, an event which marked the beginning of the Europhile campaign. So far the European issue has been dominated by those on the Eurosceptic side of the argument. However, the organisation’s founder Peter Wilding described it as the campaign that will lead the “fight back” to keep Britain in Europe. Their main aim is to earn to consent of an often Eurosceptic media and public. Unsurprisingly, the organisation is seen as the forerunner to the ‘Yes’ campaign in the event of a referendum, and is backed by political heavyweights including Ken Clarke and Lord Mandelson.

Read the rest of this entry »

Tweet

People’s Pledge reaction to David Cameron’s EU speech

· Encouraging words need to be backed with action

· David Cameron needs to legislate in this parliament
for an EU referendum

Responding to the Prime Minister’s speech today on the EU, People’s Pledge campaign manager, Helen Lambert, comments:

“The Prime Minister’s speech is an encouraging first step and builds on growing momentum behind giving the British people a vote about Britain’s relationship with the EU.”

“Trust in politicians on the EU issue is so low that only by legislating for a referendum to be held in the next parliament can David Cameron convince us that he is serious about delivering an EU referendum”.

“The Prime Minister’s speech today has thrown down the gauntlet to Ed Miliband and Nick Clegg to align with over 70% of people and a clear majority of their own parties’ voters who support an EU referendum”.

“The People’s Pledge will build on today’s speech to help achieve our campaign aim of securing a majority of pro-referendum MPs from all parties at the next election.”

Tweet

EU Referendum Challenge: Will David Cameron Pass Our Test?

David Cameron in his forthcoming, long-awaited speech on Europe, is widely expected to say that he intends holding an in-out referendum on EU membership in the next parliament.
 

If the Prime Minister does go ahead and promise to give us a direct say on Britain’s relationship with the EU this will obviously demonstrate that the momentum is definitely with those pushing for a referendum. Opinion polls have consistently shown that 70% plus of the British people want the chance to express their views on this issue. Yet, so far, the majority of politicians have opposed risking a clear, democratic test of public opinion. Now the political wind appears to be changing in the long run-ups to the 2014 European parliamentary elections and the UK general election, a year later.
 

While it is encouraging that Mr Cameron feels the need to address this issue and, rhetorically at least, promise to hold a real in-out referendum, three questions need to be asked in order to ascertain just how genuine is the Prime Minister’s commitment. This is why we have devised The People’s Pledge EU Referendum Challenge. In the run-up to the Prime Minister’s long-awaited speech we have sent out our campaign briefing document to journalists, politicians and other interested parties asking them to put the three below questions to him.
 

The Pledge has been the only campaign that has been attempting to help shape the thinking of the media, the political community and the wider electorate towards Mr Cameron’s speech. This is vitally important work if the British people are not to be mislead a second time with an apparent promise of a referendum which in reality comes with a lot of unattainable terms and conditions in the small print.
Read the rest of this entry »

Tweet

The Business Case for an EU referendum – latest blog post

This article first appeared on CityAm here

In all likelihood, David Cameron will soon commit to holding an in-out referendum on Britain’s EU membership. Unsurprisingly, this has provoked a campaign against giving people a say on who ultimately governs us.
There are two arguments. First, that “now is not the right time”, because speculation about the possibility of a referendum would create turbulence in the markets when the Eurozone is in crisis. Second, that if companies and investors thought we could leave, they would pull out of Britain.
With a few honourable exceptions, the pro-EU lobby react with horror whenever it is suggested that voters should be given the chance to vote. The reality is that, for such people, there will never be a “right” time. And the argument will become even more unsustainable within the next few years, when a forthcoming treaty puts the finishing touches to banking, fiscal and political union. Under this new arrangement, Eurozone countries will likely vote as a single bloc and, facilitated by extensions to qualified majority voting, could impose a raft of measures on Britain and other non-Eurozone members.
  Read the rest of this entry »

Tweet

EU Business in Parliament – Week of 10th December 2012

Monday 10^th December

*Lords Oral Questions – Labour peer Lord Barnett will ask the Government what their planned response is to EU plans for regulation of banking (around 3:00 PM)

*Open Europe holding an event at RUSI where Liam Fox will make a keynote speech about his proposed version of a trade-only or Out referendum question – 2:00 PM

Tuesday 11^th December

No relevant EU business in Parliament planned as yet for Tuesday

*IPPR has a seminar with Emma Reynolds and Prof. Vernon Bogdanor on the implications of  a possible British exit from the EU – 12:30 PM

*Institute for Economic Affairs will be holding a discussion roundtable on whether the UK would be better off out of the EU at 6:30 PM*

  Read the rest of this entry »

Tweet

People’s Pledge YouGov Poll – 86% of Conservative MPs want an EU referendum in their next General Election manifesto.

People’s Pledge YouGov Poll

As Reported in the Sun and Conservative Home, see the full YouGov opinion poll results

86% of Conservative MPs think that their party should have in their manifesto a commitment to hold a referendum on Britain’s continued membership of the European Union.[2]

Tweet