Proxy Voting Debate

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Department: Leader of the House

Proxy Voting

Helen Goodman Excerpts
Wednesday 18th July 2018

(6 years, 4 months ago)

Commons Chamber
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Andrea Leadsom Portrait Andrea Leadsom
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My hon. Friend is quite right. The Procedure Committee report proposed that hon. Members taking baby leave should be able to choose between proxy voting and a pair, even from vote to vote, so the complexity would obviously increase; nevertheless it is important that we have choice and flexibility.

Helen Goodman Portrait Helen Goodman (Bishop Auckland) (Lab)
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The Chair of the Procedure Committee will attest to the fact that I have been a proxy voting sceptic—until yesterday. Does the Leader of the House agree that the right hon. Member for Great Yarmouth (Brandon Lewis) has done for proxy voting what the hon. Member for Christchurch (Sir Christopher Chope) did for the private Members’ Bills process?

Andrea Leadsom Portrait Andrea Leadsom
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The hon. Lady is being extremely unfair to my right hon. Friend the Member for Great Yarmouth. It is absolutely clear that he was unaware that he was breaking a pair. It was an administrative error.