MPs are revolting (even more)

The idea that MPs are simply lobby fodder has been challenged in recent times, and it can be argued that this picture is misleading. New research on the voting behaviour of coalition MPs suggests rebellion is at a postwar high.

In the last parliament backbench rebellions began to cause government major headaches, and the party whipping system did not seem as strong as has traditionally been the case. A leader article in The Guardian stated that if politics was a sport, then the 2005-2006 session would go down as ‘a vintage season’ and was ‘one of the most effective parliamentary spells of modern times’. Labour MPs rebelled more than a quarter of the time, a postwar record for within two sessions of an election. The rebellions clearly went beyond the usual suspects given that 112 Labour backbenchers went against the government at least once – this is nearly one third of the Parliamentary Labour Party. ‘The result was a record unique in recent political history.’ The government was defeated on 4 whipped votes, and squeaked by on a single vote on another.

This week the Gaurdian reported that Con-Lib MPs have gone against the whip on the majority of votes:

“Backbench rebellions against the government have been more frequent in this parliament than any since the second world war, according to new research, with 59 rebellions out of the first 110 votes. This is double the rate during the last Labour government and almost nine times as frequent as the post-war average, suggesting for some MPs rebellion against the coalition is becoming a habit.

The research, conducted by Professor Philip Cowley and Mark Stuart of the centre for British politics at Nottingham University, is published today. It suggests “rebellion has become the norm and cohesion the exception”. They claim the coalition is “saddled with two wobbly wings”, and the opportunities for rebellion are likely to grow. So far, 89 coalition MPs have broken ranks against the government – 67 of them Conservatives.

In percentage terms at least one Tory MP has broken ranks in 35% of whipped votes; at least one Lib Dem MP has done so in 28%. These two figures add up to more than 54%, because in some votes both parties had dissenters.

The breadth of rebellion inside the Liberal Democrats is probably higher than publicly perceived. The Lib Dem parliamentary party currently comprises 57 MPs. Of these 22 (or 39%) are members of the payroll vote, either as ministers or parliamentary private secretaries, expected to remain loyal to the government not only in voice but also in vote. The Liberal Democrat backbench therefore consists of 35 MPs. The figure of 22 of those that have rebelled against the government means that a whopping 63% of the backbench party has defied the whip.

Cowley argues the figures are even more striking since the first session of a parliament tends to be the most loyal, partly since there are fewer disillusioned former ministers, the next election is furthest away and the glue of a freshly won manifesto mandate reduces independence.

The level of rebellions may reflect that in both parties MPs feel the compromises of coalition reduce the need to obey the advice of whips.

The Conservative rebellion rate of 35% is higher than all but four of the post-war sessions. The Lib Dem rate of 28% is higher than in any previous session, and by the end of this parliament it is likely the backbenchers will have rebelled more times than they did in the whole of the last parliament.

The whole of the last parliament – covering five years — saw just 39 divisions in which at least one Liberal Democrat voted against their party line; in just over five months the total for the 2010 parliament has already reached 31.”