Theresa May faces her biggest test yet, as MPs gather to vote tonight on her Brexit deal. Facing huge opposition, she will need all the help she can get to allow her withdrawal agreement to pass through – a feat which currently looks nearly impossible.
Among those expected to vote down her deal is the pregnant Labour MP, Tulip Siddiq, who has delayed the birth of her child via Caesarean section to attend the vote on Tuesday night.
It comes as the government was last year accused of ‘cheating’ to get an earlier Brexit bill through the Commons, by allowing Tory MP Brandon Lewis to vote, despite the fact he was ‘paired’ with deputy Lib Dem leader Jo Swinson – effectively a joint agreement to miss the vote and cancel out Swinson’s absence, as she was on maternity leave.
The debacle brought to light how rigid parliamentary structures can be for pregnant women and new parents, who do not get formal maternity or paternity leave.
But what would happen if Siddiq couldn’t make the showdown? Here are some ways MPs can work around vote absences.
When Might MPs Be Exempt From Voting?
An MP may miss a vote if they are unwell, abroad fulfilling job duties, or off on parental leave.
Although any MP is free to miss a vote, but they will face consequences – including a bruised chance of promotion.
What Happens If They Can’t Make It To The Vote In Time?
Some votes are known to come right down to the wire, with slim majorities swaying the outcome either way. In cases such as this, and really for all crucial votes, MPs usually make arrangements which will ensure their absence will not negatively impact their party’s desired outcome.
For example, politicians who are seriously ill and cannot attend, or are dealing with other exceptional circumstances, might be “nodded through”. A whip – an appointed MP who takes care of their party’s parliamentary business – will give the MP’s name to division clerks in either the “aye” or “no” lobby, which counts as a vote in person.
MPs last year voted to allow colleagues on parental leave to nominate a fellow member to cast a vote in their absence, under the “baby leave” process. But the Commons procedure committee is yet to put concrete measures in place, so the system is so far unchanged.
So for now, in cases of parental leave, another, more common form of proxy vote can take place – the pairing system.
What Is The Pairing System?
Party whips will work hard to ensure that all their MPs are ready to vote – and to do so in the way the party wishes them to.
But in cases where they are absent, whips will coordinate to ‘pair’ the politician with another from an opposing party who intended to vote the other way, and they will both agree not to cast a vote, known as a division (thanks to the division lobbies MPs enter the House of Commons through to indicate their vote).
The agreement is informal and not recorded in Erskine May, parliament’s code of conduct. But it means the absences cancel each other out.
However, it is not supposed to be used in crucial votes.
Has It Worked Before?
As you might expect, pairing – which depends entirely on trust between opposing MPs and whips – has had a contentious past.
The practice was suspended in the 1970s after the Conservatives accused Labour whips of bringing forward their paired MPs to sway votes.
The suspension put some MPs in challenging positions, such as forcing Labour MP Shirley Williams to turn on her heels and board a freshly-landed plane back to the UK – from China.
But the practice also had more dramatic consequences.
James Callaghan’s government was defeated in 1979 in a vote of no-confidence lost by one vote. It happened after Tory MP Bernard Weatherill honourably offered to abstain from the life-or-death poll.
The move would have honoured a pairing arrangement in place for mortally-ill Labour MP Alfred Broughton, who was on his deathbed and could not make the vote.
Weatherill’s proposition so impressed his opposite, Labour’s Walter Harrison, who dismissed him from the responsibility, knowing his absence would kill the Tory MP’s parliamentary career. Weatherill voted and his presence made up the numbers, which meant Callaghan lost the confidence motion.
The defeat triggered the general election which saw Margaret Thatcher elected.
Some MP pairings last a political lifetime, as was the case between Conservative politician Michael Portillo, and Labour’s Mo Mowlam.
Is It A Trustworthy System?
It depends on the level of trust held between opposing MPs and whips.
Siddiq said she could not trust the pairing arrangement after what happened to Swinson back in July.
She will instead delay the birth of her baby boy and will be pushed through the voting lobby in a wheelchair by her husband.
The move prompted renewed calls to the parliamentary system to be changed, including from Harriet Harman, the Commons’ longest-serving female MP.
She told parliament on Monday that the pregnant politician should not be faced with the choice of delaying an operation or “losing her right to vote”.
“How many babies do we collectively have to have in this House before we see any sort of change?” Labour’s Emma Reynolds added.
Commons speaker John Bercow said it was “extremely regrettable” that a year after MPs first debated proxy voting.