The Agriculture Bill has passed the Report Stage in the House of Commons by 360 to 211 votes – unamended by rebels, much to the relief of the Department for International Trade who feared additions to the bill would scupper the UK’s chance of striking free trade deals.

Two similar amendments by Tory MPs were particularly concerning to the free traders in Government. Simon Hoare and Neil Parish both tabled new clauses aimed at stopping any agricultural goods under a trade agreement from being imported if they were made with lower standards than the UK has.

The amendments had a large amount of support from opposition benches but not enough Tory MPs were swayed. For example, Tory MP David Johnston said he considered voting for them but he was not convinced that it would help farmers’ ability to export in the long run.

Just before voting began, Simon Hoare withdrew his amendment and threw his weight behind the similar Neil Parish amendment (NC2), remarking that the House of Lords was likely to support it. This was an attempt to focus protectionists onto one amendment increasing the chance to get it through – but in the end the amendment was voted down by 328 to 277. But the Government will not be happy with the fact that 36 Tory MPs did not vote against the amendment – There were 21 outright rebels and 15 abstentions from Conservative MPs.

Winding up, Junior environment Minister Victoria Prentis pointed out that importing meat that had been washing by anything other than drinking water was against UK regulations – a reference to the ‘chlorinated chicken’ that US producers are supposedly lining up to sell to the UK.

The new remote voting system – the first time it was used on a Government Bill, was operated by those sitting in the chamber as well as MPs sitting at home but there have been issues. A number of MPs voted the wrong way by accident on the Parish amendment and informed Deputy Speaker Eleanor Laing. There is a provision for MPs to change their vote afterwards but Laing reassured the house that the small number of errors would not have affected the result. Labour MPs Harriet Harman and Kate Osborne appear to have rebelled by accident and voted against the Parish amendment – the only Labour MPs to do so. Pauline Latham made a genuine mistake and was not a willing rebel and the Chancellor Rishi Sunak – an unlikely rebel – made a mistake too and apologised to the Prime Minister.

Curiously, Tory MP Claire Coutinho, Rishi Sunak’s former Spad, tweeted before the vote that she was not supporting Simon Hoare’s amendment but in the end voted in favour of the anti-free trade NC2. A source informs me that whatever she might say about this supposed ‘error’, she’s not somebody who supports free trade deals.

A number of Government amendments were made without division (by MPs within the chamber indicating their consent by way of shouting ‘aye’) but no other amendments were successful.

I have written previously about the protectionist lobby in parliament to which some cabinet ministers also belong, but this is definitely round one to the free traders.

 

The results of the Neil Parish amendment are below:

277 MPs voted for the motion including 183 Labour MPs, 44 Scottish National Party MPs, 22 Conservative MPs (all rebels except for Rishi Sunak and Pauline Latham who made a mistake), all 11 Liberal Democrat MPs, all 8 Democratic Unionist Party MPs, all 4 Plaid Cymru MPs, all 2 Social Democratic & Labour Party MPs, 1 Alliance MP, 1 Green Party MP, and 1 Independent MP.

328 Voted against –  326 Conservative MPs, and 2 rebel Labour MPs (probably by accident).  A further 45 did not vote in the division.

THE 277 MPs WHO SUPPORTED THE MOTION

Alliance

1. Stephen Farry

Conservative (rebels)

1. Bob Blackman
2. Claire Coutinho
3. Tracey Crouch
4. Roger Gale
5. John Hayes
6. Gordon Henderson
7. Simon Hoare
8. Neil Hudson
9. Simon Jupp
10. Pauline Latham – (an error)
11. Ian Liddell-Grainger
12. Chris Loder
13. Jason McCartney
14. David Morris
15. Caroline Nokes
16. Neil Parish
17. David Simmonds
18. Gary Streeter
19. Julian Sturdy
20. Rishi Sunak – (an error) 
21. Theresa Villiers
22. David Warburton

Democratic Unionist Party

1. Gregory Campbell
2. Jeffrey M Donaldson
3. Paul Girvan
4. Carla Lockhart
5. Ian Paisley
6. Gavin Robinson
7. Jim Shannon
8. Sammy Wilson

Green Party

1. Caroline Lucas

Independent

1. Neale Hanvey

Labour

1. Diane Abbott
2. Debbie Abrahams
3. Tahir Ali
4. Rosena Allin-Khan
5. Mike Amesbury
6. Fleur Anderson
7. Tonia Antoniazzi
8. Jonathan Ashworth
9. Paula Barker
10. Margaret Beckett
11. Hilary Benn
12. Clive Betts
13. Olivia Blake
14. Paul Blomfield
15. Tracy Brabin
16. Ben Bradshaw
17. Kevin Brennan
18. Nicholas Brown
19. Lyn Brown
20. Chris Bryant
21. Karen Buck
22. Richard Burgon
23. Dawn Butler
24. Ian Byrne
25. Liam Byrne
26. Ruth Cadbury
27. Alan Campbell
28. Dan Carden
29. Sarah Champion
30. Bambos Charalambous
31. Feryal Clark
32. Rosie Cooper
33. Yvette Cooper
34. Jeremy Corbyn
35. Neil Coyle
36. Stella Creasy
37. Jon Cruddas
38. John Cryer
39. Judith Cummins
40. Alex Cunningham
41. Wayne David
42. Geraint Davies
43. Alex Davies-Jones
44. Marsha De Cordova
45. Thangam Debbonaire
46. Tanmanjeet Singh Dhesi
47. Anneliese Dodds
48. Stephen Doughty
49. Peter Dowd
50. Rosie Duffield
51. Maria Eagle
52. Angela Eagle
53. Clive Efford
54. Julie Elliott
55. Chris Elmore
56. Florence Eshalomi
57. Bill Esterson
58. Chris Evans
59. Colleen Fletcher
60. Yvonne Fovargue
61. Vicky Foxcroft
62. Gill Furniss
63. Barry Gardiner
64. Preet Kaur Gill
65. Mary Glindon
66. Kate Green
67. Lilian Greenwood
68. Nia Griffith
69. Andrew Gwynne
70. Louise Haigh
71. Fabian Hamilton
72. Emma Hardy
73. Carolyn Harris
74. Helen Hayes
75. Mike Hill
76. Meg Hillier
77. Margaret Hodge
78. Sharon Hodgson
79. Kate Hollern
80. Rachel Hopkins
81. George Howarth
82. Rupa Huq
83. Imran Hussain
84. Dan Jarvis
85. Diana Johnson
86. Kim Johnson
87. Darren Jones
88. Gerald Jones
89. Kevan Jones
90. Ruth Jones
91. Sarah Jones
92. Mike Kane
93. Barbara Keeley
94. Liz Kendall
95. Afzal Khan
96. Stephen Kinnock
97. Peter Kyle
98. Ian Lavery
99. Emma Lewell-Buck
100. Clive Lewis
101. Rebecca Long Bailey
102. Holly Lynch
103. Justin Madders
104. Khalid Mahmood
105. Seema Malhotra
106. Rachael Maskell
107. Christian Matheson
108. Steve McCabe
109. Kerry McCarthy
110. Siobhain McDonagh
111. Andy McDonald
112. John McDonnell
113. Conor McGinn
114. Alison McGovern
115. Catherine McKinnell
116. Anna McMorrin
117. Ian Mearns
118. Edward Miliband
119. Navendu Mishra
120. Jessica Morden
121. Stephen Morgan
122. Grahame Morris
123. Ian Murray
124. James Murray
125. Lisa Nandy
126. Charlotte Nichols
127. Alex Norris
128. Chi Onwurah
129. Abena Oppong-Asare
130. Kate Osamor
131. Taiwo Owatemi
132. Sarah Owen
133. Stephanie Peacock
134. Matthew Pennycook
135. Jess Phillips
136. Bridget Phillipson
137. Luke Pollard
138. Lucy Powell
139. Yasmin Qureshi
140. Angela Rayner
141. Steve Reed
142. Christina Rees
143. Ellie Reeves
144. Rachel Reeves
145. Jonathan Reynolds
146. Bell Ribeiro-Addy
147. Marie Rimmer
148. Matt Rodda
149. Lloyd Russell-Moyle
150. Naz Shah
151. Virendra Sharma
152. Barry Sheerman
153. Tulip Siddiq
154. Andy Slaughter
155. Cat Smith
156. Jeff Smith
157. Nick Smith
158. Karin Smyth
159. Alex Sobel
160. John Spellar
161. Keir Starmer
162. Jo Stevens
163. Wes Streeting
164. Zarah Sultana
165. Mark Tami
166. Sam Tarry
167. Nick Thomas-Symonds
168. Emily Thornberry
169. Stephen Timms
170. Jon Trickett
171. Karl Turner
172. Derek Twigg
173. Liz Twist
174. Valerie Vaz
175. Claudia Webbe
176. Catherine West
177. Matt Western
178. Alan Whitehead
179. Mick Whitley
180. Nadia Whittome
181. Beth Winter
182. Mohammad Yasin
183. Daniel Zeichner

Liberal Democrat

1. Alistair Carmichael
2. Wendy Chamberlain
3. Daisy Cooper
4. Edward Davey
5. Tim Farron
6. Wera Hobhouse
7. Christine Jardine
8. Layla Moran
9. Sarah Olney
10. Jamie Stone
11. Munira Wilson

Plaid Cymru

1. Jonathan Edwards
2. Ben Lake
3. Liz Saville Roberts
4. Hywel Williams

Scottish National Party

1. Hannah Bardell
2. Mhairi Black
3. Ian Blackford
4. Kirsty Blackman
5. Deidre Brock
6. Alan Brown
7. Amy Callaghan
8. Lisa Cameron
9. Douglas Chapman
10. Joanna Cherry
11. Ronnie Cowan
12. Angela Crawley
13. Martyn Day
14. Martin Docherty-Hughes
15. Dave Doogan
16. Allan Dorans
17. Marion Fellows
18. Margaret Ferrier
19. Stephen Flynn
20. Patricia Gibson
21. Patrick Grady
22. Peter Grant
23. Neil Gray
24. Drew Hendry
25. Stewart Hosie
26. Chris Law
27. David Linden
28. Kenny MacAskill
29. Angus Brendan MacNeil
30. Stewart Malcolm McDonald
31. Stuart C McDonald
32. Anne McLaughlin
33. John McNally
34. Gavin Newlands
35. John Nicolson
36. Brendan O’Hara
37. Kirsten Oswald
38. Tommy Sheppard
39. Alyn Smith
40. Alison Thewliss
41. Owen Thompson
42. Richard Thomson
43. Philippa Whitford
44. Pete Wishart

Social Democratic & Labour Party

1. Colum Eastwood
2. Claire Hanna

THE 45 MPs WHO DID NOT VOTE IN THE DIVISION

Conservative

1. Peter Aldous
2. David Amess
3. Steve Brine
4. Fiona Bruce
5. Conor Burns
6. Geoffrey Clifton-Brown
7. Philip Dunne
8. George Freeman
9. Robert Jenrick
10. Robert Largan
11. Karl McCartney
12. Sheryll Murray
13. Andrew Percy
14. William Wragg
15. Jeremy Wright

Labour

1. Rushanara Ali
2. Apsana Begum
3. Janet Daby
4. Jack Dromey
5. Mary Kelly Foy
6. Margaret Greenwood
7. John Healey
8. Mark Hendrick
9. David Lammy
10. Tony Lloyd
11. Shabana Mahmood
12. Pat McFadden
13. Jim McMahon
14. Toby Perkins
15. Graham Stringer
16. Gareth Thomas

Scottish National Party

1. Steven Bonnar
2. Carol Monaghan
3. Chris Stephens

THE 328 MPs WHO OPPOSED THE MOTION

Conservative (Loyalists)

1. Nigel Adams
2. Bim Afolami
3. Adam Afriyie
4. Imran Ahmad Khan
5. Nickie Aiken
6. Lucy Allan
7. Lee Anderson
8. Stuart Anderson
9. Stuart Andrew
10. Caroline Ansell
11. Edward Argar
12. Sarah Atherton
13. Victoria Atkins
14. Gareth Bacon
15. Richard Bacon
16. Kemi Badenoch
17. Shaun Bailey
18. Siobhan Baillie
19. Duncan Baker
20. Steve Baker
21. Harriett Baldwin
22. Steve Barclay
23. John Baron
24. Simon Baynes
25. Aaron Bell
26. Scott Benton
27. Paul Beresford
28. Jake Berry
29. Saqib Bhatti
30. Crispin Blunt
31. Peter Bone
32. Peter Bottomley
33. Andrew Bowie
34. Ben Bradley
35. Karen Bradley
36. Graham Brady
37. Suella Braverman
38. Jack Brereton
39. Andrew Bridgen
40. Paul Bristow
41. Sara Britcliffe
42. James Brokenshire
43. Anthony Browne
44. Felicity Buchan
45. Robert Buckland
46. Alex Burghart
47. Rob Butler
48. Alun Cairns
49. Andy Carter
50. James Cartlidge
51. William Cash
52. Miriam Cates
53. Maria Caulfield
54. Alex Chalk
55. Rehman Chishti
56. Christopher Chope
57. Jo Churchill
58. Greg Clark
59. Simon Clarke
60. Theo Clarke
61. Brendan Clarke-Smith
62. Chris Clarkson
63. James Cleverly
64. Thérèse Coffey
65. Elliot Colburn
66. Damian Collins
67. Alberto Costa
68. Robert Courts
69. Geoffrey Cox
70. Stephen Crabb
71. Virginia Crosbie
72. James Daly
73. David T C Davies
74. James Davies
75. Gareth Davies
76. Mims Davies
77. Philip Davies
78. David Davis
79. Dehenna Davison
80. Caroline Dinenage
81. Sarah Dines
82. Jonathan Djanogly
83. Leo Docherty
84. Michelle Donelan
85. Nadine Dorries
86. Steve Double
87. Oliver Dowden
88. Jackie Doyle-Price
89. Richard Drax
90. Flick Drummond
91. James Duddridge
92. David Duguid
93. Iain Duncan Smith
94. Mark Eastwood
95. Ruth Edwards
96. Michael Ellis
97. Tobias Ellwood
98. Natalie Elphicke
99. George Eustice
100. Luke Evans
101. David Evennett
102. Ben Everitt
103. Michael Fabricant
104. Laura Farris
105. Simon Fell
106. Katherine Fletcher
107. Mark Fletcher
108. Nick Fletcher
109. Vicky Ford
110. Kevin Foster
111. Liam Fox
112. Mark Francois
113. Lucy Frazer
114. Mike Freer
115. Richard Fuller
116. Marcus Fysh
117. Mark Garnier
118. Nusrat Ghani
119. Nick Gibb
120. Peter Gibson
121. Jo Gideon
122. Cheryl Gillan
123. John Glen
124. Robert Goodwill
125. Michael Gove
126. Richard Graham
127. Helen Grant
128. James Gray
129. Chris Grayling
130. Chris Green
131. Damian Green
132. Andrew Griffith
133. Kate Griffiths
134. James Grundy
135. Jonathan Gullis
136. Robert Halfon
137. Luke Hall
138. Stephen Hammond
139. Matt Hancock
140. Greg Hands
141. Mark Harper
142. Rebecca Harris
143. Trudy Harrison
144. Sally-Ann Hart
145. Simon Hart
146. Oliver Heald
147. James Heappey
148. Chris Heaton-Harris
149. Darren Henry
150. Antony Higginbotham
151. Damian Hinds
152. Richard Holden
153. Kevin Hollinrake
154. Philip Hollobone
155. Adam Holloway
156. Paul Holmes
157. John Howell
158. Paul Howell
159. Nigel Huddleston
160. Eddie Hughes
161. Jane Hunt
162. Jeremy Hunt
163. Tom Hunt
164. Alister Jack
165. Sajid Javid
166. Ranil Jayawardena
167. Bernard Jenkin
168. Mark Jenkinson
169. Andrea Jenkyns
170. Boris Johnson
171. Caroline Johnson
172. Gareth Johnson
173. David Johnston
174. Andrew Jones
175. Fay Jones
176. David Jones
177. Marcus Jones
178. Daniel Kawczynski
179. Alicia Kearns
180. Gillian Keegan
181. Julian Knight
182. Greg Knight
183. Danny Kruger
184. Kwasi Kwarteng
185. John Lamont
186. Andrea Leadsom
187. Edward Leigh
188. Ian Levy
189. Andrew Lewer
190. Brandon Lewis
191. Julian Lewis
192. Mark Logan
193. Marco Longhi
194. Julia Lopez
195. Jack Lopresti
196. Jonathan Lord
197. Tim Loughton
198. Craig Mackinlay
199. Cherilyn Mackrory
200. Rachel Maclean
201. Alan Mak
202. Kit Malthouse
203. Anthony Mangnall
204. Scott Mann
205. Julie Marson
206. Theresa May
207. Jerome Mayhew
208. Paul Maynard
209. Stephen McPartland
210. Esther McVey
211. Mark Menzies
212. Johnny Mercer
213. Huw Merriman
214. Stephen Metcalfe
215. Robin Millar
216. Maria Miller
217. Amanda Milling
218. Nigel Mills
219. Andrew Mitchell
220. Mohindra
221. Damien Moore
222. Robbie Moore
223. Penny Mordaunt
224. Anne Marie Morris
225. James Morris
226. Joy Morrissey
227. Wendy Morton
228. Kieran Mullan
229. Holly Mumby-Croft
230. David Mundell
231. Andrew Murrison
232. Robert Neill
233. Lia Nici
234. Jesse Norman
235. Neil O’Brien
236. Matthew Offord
237. Guy Opperman
238. Priti Patel
239. Owen Paterson
240. Mark Pawsey
241. Mike Penning
242. John Penrose
243. Chris Philp
244. Christopher Pincher
245. Dan Poulter
246. Rebecca Pow
247. Victoria Prentis
248. Mark Pritchard
249. Tom Pursglove
250. Jeremy Quin
251. Will Quince
252. Dominic Raab
253. Tom Randall
254. John Redwood
255. Jacob Rees-Mogg
256. Nicola Richards
257. Angela Richardson
258. Rob Roberts
259. Laurence Robertson
260. Mary Robinson
261. Andrew Rosindell
262. Douglas Ross
263. Lee Rowley
264. Dean Russell
265. David Rutley
266. Gary Sambrook
267. Selaine Saxby
268. Paul Scully
269. Bob Seely
270. Andrew Selous
271. Grant Shapps
272. Alok Sharma
273. Alec Shelbrooke
274. Chris Skidmore
275. Chloe Smith
276. Greg Smith
277. Henry Smith
278. Julian Smith
279. Royston Smith
280. Amanda Solloway
281. Ben Spencer
282. Mark Spencer
283. Alexander Stafford
284. Andrew Stephenson
285. Jane Stevenson
286. John Stevenson
287. Bob Stewart
288. Iain Stewart
289. Mel Stride
290. Graham Stuart
291. James Sunderland
292. Desmond Swayne
293. Robert Syms
294. Derek Thomas
295. Maggie Throup
296. Edward Timpson
297. Kelly Tolhurst
298. Justin Tomlinson
299. Michael Tomlinson
300. Craig Tracey
301. Anne-Marie Trevelyan
302. Laura Trott
303. Elizabeth Truss
304. Tom Tugendhat
305. Shailesh Vara
306. Martin Vickers
307. Matt Vickers
308. Christian Wakeford
309. Robin Walker
310. Charles Walker
311. Ben Wallace
312. Jamie Wallis
313. Matt Warman
314. Giles Watling
315. Suzanne Webb
316. Helen Whately
317. Heather Wheeler
318. Craig Whittaker
319. John Whittingdale
320. Bill Wiggin
321. James Wild
322. Craig Williams
323. Gavin Williamson
324. Mike Wood
325. Jacob Young
326. Nadhim Zahawi

Labour

1. Harriet Harman (possibly an error)
2. Kate Osborne (possibly an error)