Britannist

The Brown Government won a vote on 42 days' detention in the House of Commons at 6.22 pm today - by just 9 votes.

The eurosceptic Democratic Unionist Party - which has 9 MPs in the Commons - backed the Government.

It is also reported that UKIP MP Mr. Bob Spink also voted for the Government legislation.

The Brown Government could have just won the vote without the support of Mr. Spink - on the casting vote of The Speaker.

Britannist

More on this at:

Brown Government wins 42 day detention vote with help of DUP votes

Anthony Butcher

So UKIP is in favour of increased detention times without charge?

Astonishing. I assumed that the party, supposedly libertarian leaning, would have opposed it.

Are you sure about this?

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Tom Wilde

BBC NEWS | Politics | Brown wins crunch vote on 42 days

I'm afraid Brown did indeed win by 9 votes. I hope UKIP didn't support this.

Britannist

I heard a media report saying Mr. Spink would vote with the Government on the issue of 42 days' detention. Whether that report was accurate and correct remains to be seen.

Mr. Spink may have voted against the Government on this, of course, or abstained.

We will find out later when the list of how MPs voted in the division at 6.22 pm is published.

Had the Democratic Unionist Party (DUP) of Dr. Paisley voted with the opposition the Government would have lost the vote held on 42 days' detention at 6.22 pm.

If the DUP had abstained the Government could have only got it through on the casting vote of The Speaker (who, by tradition, votes with the Government when the vote of the Government and the opposition is the same).

Whether the Government could have got this legislation through with the DUP abstaining and without the support of the UKIP MP Mr. Spink will not be known until the full list of how MPs voted appears.

One thing which this result shows is the fact that small eurosceptic partes such as the DUP and UKIP can be the deciding factor in crucial votes in the House of Commons if/when Government majorities are small.

Britannist

Brief quote from the BBC article on the link given by Tom in posting 4 to this thread:

"Veteran former Labour MP Tony Benn said: "I never thought I would be in the House of Commons on the day Magna Carta was repealed".

Britannist

The Rev. William McCrea MP of the Democratic Unionist Party just said on Sky Television News that Lady Hermon of the Ulster Unionist Party (UUP) allegedly voted with the Government.

Lady Hermon is the only member of the eurosceptic UUP in the House of Commons.

Britannist

Vote:

For the Government 315
Against the Government 309

Brief extract from today’s Times (Quote) The former Cabinet minister Frank Dobson, who says that he plans to rebel, said: "I believe this is a quite fundamental issue: we have had the right not to be locked up for a long time without charge since the year 1215 — this is one of the very few things that is actually in Magna Carta and we need to sustain it."(End of quote)

From:

Brown makes final appeal for support before crucial 42-day terror vote - Times Online

Britannist

"We believe that Ann Widdecombe (the Conservative MP) voted with the Government" political news presenter Adam Boulton just said on Sky Television News, adding "37 Labour MPs voted against the Government - more than one Labour MP in ten was prepared to voted against the Government which (if he had lost the vote on 42 days' detention) could have put the Prime Minister in a position from which he may not have been able to recover."

Richard Allen

UKIP are opposed to increased detention times. Bob Spink may disagree with this position. You cannot interpret his every vote as reflecting party policy.