They say that sunlight is the best of disinfectants. But MPs haven’t always be so keen on having their voting records online. Some take issue with how their votes are portrayed; others suggest disproportionate weight is given to divisions they do attend. Still, Mr S is always keen to see which Honourable Members are turning up – and which ones look to be checking out.
So Steerpike has been taking a look at how many times our elected representatives have voted since the last election in July 2024. In the six months since, there have been 91 divisions. When Sinn Féin and the deputy speakers are excluded, it turns out that the two men who came top are… the ones who headed the two major parties at the last election. Yes, that’s right: the Prime Minister and his predecessor are recorded as voting in just four of the 91 divisions up until 26 January.
Both Keir Starmer and Rishi Sunak have therefore voted in just 4 per cent of votes since polling day. David Lammy takes silver, having attended 13 per cent of votes, with Rachel Reeves in bronze with 20 per cent. Kemi Badenoch’s voting record is marginally better than Robert Jenrick, with the former voting in 48 divisions and the latter only being registered in 49.
Honours go to the 10 Labour MPs who have voted in all but one of the divisions since July 2024. They are (deep breath) Markus Campbell-Savours, Danny Beales, David Pinto-Duschinsky, Deirdre Costigan, Martin McCluskey, Scott Arthur, Jeff Smith, Gurinder Josan, Michael Payne and Christian Wakeford. Clearly some of the new boys deserve some promotions!
You can use the table below to see how your MP compares:
Comments