Some of these 53 Labour MPs may have had permission from the whips to miss the vote for one reason or another, but it is likely that most of these are rebel-lite votes – MPs refusing to back the policy, but not hating it enough to vote against, or not being brave/reckless enough to risk disciplinary action.
If the Labour whips wanted to give people permission to miss the vote, they would have paired them with a Tory unable to attend. But only five Conservatives did not vote.
Here are the results.
Robert Jenrick: 33
Kemi Badenoch: 28
James Cleverly: 21
Tom Tugendhat: 21
Mel Stride: 16
Mel Stride is eliminated. And Robert Jenrick remains in the lead, although Kemi Badenoch has inched a bit closer to him.
Bob Blackman, the chair of the Conservative 1922 Committee, is about to read out the results of the second round of voting in the Tory leadership contest.
Here are the results from last week’s round one.
Robert Jenrick: 28
Kemi Badenoch: 22
James Cleverly: 21
Tom Tugendhat: 17
Mel Stride: 16
Priti Patel: 14
My colleague Pippa Crerar says only around 53 of the Labour MPs who did not vote with the government today were not authorised to be absent.
But she says many of those who were apparently authorised not to vote were MPs known to be strongly opposed to the winter fuel payments cut. This suggests that the government whips were ‘managing’ the rebellion (a sensible move), by creating a new category of authorised, rebel-lite abstention.
they had the whip withdrawn after voting against the king’s speech in July because it did not include measures to scrap the two-child benefit cap.
Of those seven, five voted against the government today. They were John McDonnell; Richard Burgon; Apsana Begum; Ian Byrne; and Zarah Sultana.
The other two did not vote today. They were Rebecca Long-Bailey and Imran Hussain.
Jon Trickett was the only Labour MP to vote against the winter fuel payments cut. He has posted a message on social media explaining why he defied the whip.
He says “many more” pensioners will be pushed into poverty as a result of the cut, and the consequences of this can be “devastating”. The government should be raising money from the wealthiest in society, not working class pensioners, he says.
He ends saying:
I could not in good conscience vote to make my constituents poorer. I will sleep well tonight knowing that I voted to defend my constituents.
Trickett is MP for Normanton and Hemsworth in Yorkshire.
Of the 53 Labour MPs who did not vote with the government, eight of them are ministers. It should be safe to assume that these people all had permission to miss the vote (and weren’t engaged in rebel-lite abstentions). They are:
Fleur Anderson (a Northern Ireland minister)
Hilary Benn (Northern Ireland secretary)
Stephen Doughty (a Foreign Office minister)
Maria Eagle (a defence minister)
Diana Johnson (a Home Office minister)
Mike Kane (a transport minister)
Nick Thomas-Symonds (Cabinet Office minister)
Daniel Zeichner (an environment minister)
only one Labour MP, Jon Trickett, voted with the Tories to try to block the winter fuel payments cut, another 53 Labour MPs did not vote.
Some of these 53 Labour MPs may have had permission from the whips to miss the vote for one reason or another, but it is likely that most of these are rebel-lite votes – MPs refusing to back the policy, but not hating it enough to vote against, or not being brave/reckless enough to risk disciplinary action.
If the Labour whips wanted to give people permission to miss the vote, they would have paired them with a Tory unable to attend. But only five Conservatives did not vote.
Mel Stride, the shadow work and pensions, is opening it. It is unusual for the Commons to in effect hold the same debate twice, and there is a distinct Groundhog Day feel to Stride’s speech.
The government has won. The Tory motion to block the winter fuel payment cut has been defeated by 348 to 228 – a majority of 120.
This is from Newnsight’s Nicholas Watt.
An MP voting against the government on winter fuel change tells me: very few Labour MPs with us. Looks like the whips have sent lots of Labour MPs home
Ahead of the result, here is the numbers for party strength in the Commons.
Labour: 404
Opposition parties/groups: 238
Made up of –
Conservatives: 121
Liberal Democrats: 72
Independents: 13
SNP: 9
DUP: 5
Reform UK: 5
Greens: 4
Plaid Cymru: 4
SDLP: 2
Alliance: 1
TUV: 1
UUP: 1
This list does not include the 7 Sinn Féin MPs, who do not take their seats and do not vote.
Four Labour MPs are conspicuously remaining seated in the chamber, to show they are abstaining. They are: Rosie Duffield, Neil Duncan-Jordan; Rachael Maskell and Emma Lewell-Buck.
The debate is over, and now MPs are voting.
Kendall lists the measures Labour is taking to increase pension credit uptake.
We have written to all local authorities to ask them to identify eligible pensioners, including by sharing data.
We are joining forces with Age UK and Citizens Advice to get to make sure pensioners check and apply.
We have launched a major awareness campaign, continuing right up until the deadline to apply on december 21 – and, yes, that will be backdated by three months – backed by 450 extra staff to ensure claims are processed as quickly as possible.
The deputy prime minister is working with housing associations and supported accommodation providers so their residents know what they are entitled to.
I am working with the health secretary to ensure frontline NHS staff can signpost older patients who may be house-bound because of disabilities and chronic conditions.
And for the very first time, we are writing to all pensioners on housing benefits who are potentially eligible to encourage them to claim – something the Conservatives never did. And, in the longer term, because the only way to guarantee uptake is to make the whole process more automated, we will bring forward the merger of housing benefit and pension credit, which members opposite never did.
Source: theguardian.com
