MP attendance: end of term report

[Note: Voting attendance is an imperfect proxy for actual attendance, as the figure may be depressed by silent abstentions (i.e. not voting in a division, rather than voting both ‘aye’ and ‘no’) and by just turning up to vote, but failing to attend the debate. However, until Parliament provides a better measure for attendance, or more transparency of MPs actions, this is the only one we have.]

It’s recess time again, and time for MPs’ end-of-term report. I’ll leave it to others to comment on how they’ve dealt with some of the genuinely momentous events since the summer recess. This post deals solely with their voting attendance record.

First off, let’s have an overall look at the overall figures for the period:

	Oct-Dec 08	May 97-Jul 08
All MPs	70.2%	64.5%
Labour	74.8%	69.8%
Conservative	67.8%	61.7%
LibDem	72.2%	64.7%

The figures above are pretty self-explanatory. All parties have improved their attendance of votes, by 5 to 8 percentage points. Perhaps not surprising given the financial crisis.

Now let’s have a look at the main parties in detail, using the same histograms used before to show the distribution of the parties attendance figures. Interestingly (well, in a wonkish sort of way), the distributions are a bit more spread out than the long-term average. In part this is probably down to the shorter time period showing up variations that are hidden in longer period, but it’s interesting nevertheless to note that though all parties have improved their overall attendance figures, the number and proportion of Labour MPs who’ve voted in fewer than half the divisions has nearly tripled, from 11 MPs to 30 of them.

[Note: there’s no significance to the width of the columns — the recent ones are narrower so that both can be seen on the same graph]

Finally, let’s have a look at those outliers, first, the MPs who attended divisions less than than 50% of the time:

Attended fewer than 50% of divisions Oct–Dec 08

Name	Party	Constituency	Attendance %	votes attended/possible
David Cameron	Con	Witney	28.6%	24/84
Robert Walter	Con	North Dorset	34.5%	29/84
Michael Mates	Con	East Hampshire	35.7%	30/84
Tim Yeo	Con	South Suffolk	35.7%	30/84
Michael Howard	Con	Folkestone & Hythe	36.9%	31/84
Peter Bottomley	Con	Worthing West	40.5%	34/84
Liam Fox	Con	Woodspring	40.5%	34/84
Julian Lewis	Con	New Forest East	42.9%	36/84
Caroline Spelman	Con	Meriden	42.9%	36/84
David Tredinnick	Con	Bosworth	42.9%	36/84
David Wilshire	Con	Spelthorne	42.9%	36/84
David Mundell	Con	Dumfriesshire, Clydesdale & Tweeddale	42.9%	36/84
Malcolm Rifkind	Con	Kensington & Chelsea	45.2%	38/84
Michael Gove	Con	Surrey Heath	45.2%	38/84
William Hague	Con	Richmond (Yorks)	46.4%	39/84
Mark Lancaster	Con	North East Milton Keynes	48.8%	41/84
–
Mark Oaten	LDem	Winchester	23.8%	20/84
Daniel Rogerson	LDem	North Cornwall	47.6%	40/84
Nicholas Clegg	LDem	Sheffield, Hallam	47.6%	40/84
–
Margaret Hodge	Lab	Barking	0.0%	0/84
Jessica Morden	Lab	Newport East	0.0%	0/84
Gordon Brown	Lab	Kirkcaldy & Cowdenbeath	3.6%	3/84
Kali Mountford	Lab	Colne Valley	14.3%	12/84
David Miliband	Lab	South Shields	19.0%	16/84
Khalid Mahmood	Lab	Birmingham, Perry Barr	21.4%	18/84
Gordon Banks	Lab	Ochil & Perthshire South	27.4%	23/84
Alistair Darling	Lab	Edinburgh South West	29.8%	25/84
Adam Ingram	Lab	East Kilbride, Strathaven & Lesmahagow	29.8%	25/84
Glenda Jackson	Lab	Hampstead & Highgate	31.0%	26/84
Mike Wood	Lab	Batley & Spen	32.1%	27/84
Frank Cook	Lab	Stockton North	33.3%	28/84
Geraldine Smith	Lab	Morecambe & Lunesdale	36.9%	31/84
Rudi Vis	Lab	Finchley & Golders Green	39.3%	33/84
Claire Curtis-Thomas	Lab	Crosby	40.5%	34/84
Alan Milburn	Lab	Darlington	40.5%	34/84
Keith Vaz	Lab	Leicester East	40.5%	34/84
Tom Harris	Lab	Glasgow South	40.5%	34/84
Doug Henderson	Lab	Newcastle upon Tyne North	42.9%	36/84
Denis Murphy	Lab	Wansbeck	42.9%	36/84
Bill Etherington	Lab	Sunderland North	44.0%	37/84
Kate Hoey	Lab	Vauxhall	45.2%	38/84
Denis MacShane	Lab	Rotherham	45.2%	38/84
Stuart Bell	Lab	Middlesbrough	46.4%	39/84
Joe Benton	Lab	Bootle	46.4%	39/84
Roger Godsiff	Lab	Birmingham, Sparkbrook & Small Heath	46.4%	39/84
Bill Rammell	Lab	Harlow	46.4%	39/84
John Austin	Lab	Erith & Thamesmead	47.6%	40/84
Caroline Flint	Lab	Don Valley	47.6%	40/84
Robert Marshall-Andrews	Lab	Medway	48.8%	41/84

No surprise that GB‘s in this list, voting in only 3 divisions (see here for the divisions he did take time out to vote on). Ditto Alistair Darling and David Cameron.

However, the rest of the list is more interesting. Some of those on the front bench, for example (e.g. Jacqui Smith, Jack Straw), surprisingly don’t make the list, i.e. they voted in at least 50% of the divisions. Ditto some of the opposition spokespeople.

But what about the backbenchers who are on the list. Possibly there’s a good reason for Margaret Hodge and Jessica Morden for failing to attend a single division — illness perhaps (though there’s nothing on either of their websites to indicate such a factor)? And what about Kali Mountford (14.3%) and Khalid Mahmood (21.4%).

If I was in their constituency, I’d like to know, particularly since they took little part in debates, either. Similarly for the low-raters for the Conservatives — Michael Mates and Tim Yeo (6 directorships!) at 35.7% each.

Now the MPs who voted more than 90% of the time:

Attended more than 90% of divisions

Name	Party	Constituency	Attendance %	votes attended/possible
George Young	Con	North West Hampshire	91.7%	77/84
–
Willie Rennie	LDem	Dunfermline & Fife West	90.5%	76/84
Andrew Stunell	LDem	Hazel Grove	95.2%	80/84
John Hemming	LDem	Birmingham, Yardley	97.6%	82/84
–
Ian Cawsey	Lab	Brigg & Goole	90.5%	76/84
Paul Clark	Lab	Gillingham	90.5%	76/84
John Cummings	Lab	Easington	90.5%	76/84
John Heppell	Lab	Nottingham East	90.5%	76/84
Fraser Kemp	Lab	Houghton & Washington East	90.5%	76/84
Phyllis Starkey	Lab	Milton Keynes South West	90.5%	76/84
David Heyes	Lab	Ashton-under-Lyne	90.5%	76/84
Kevan Jones	Lab	North Durham	90.5%	76/84
Ian Lucas	Lab	Wrexham	90.5%	76/84
Siân James	Lab	Swansea East	90.5%	76/84
Barbara Keeley	Lab	Worsley	90.5%	76/84
Clive Betts	Lab	Sheffield, Attercliffe	91.7%	77/84
Angela Eagle	Lab	Wallasey	91.7%	77/84
Maria Eagle	Lab	Liverpool, Garston	91.7%	77/84
John Healey	Lab	Wentworth	91.7%	77/84
Keith Hill	Lab	Streatham	91.7%	77/84
Alun Michael	Lab	Cardiff South & Penarth	91.7%	77/84
David Taylor	Lab	North West Leicestershire	91.7%	77/84
Natascha Engel	Lab	North East Derbyshire	91.7%	77/84
Shahid Malik	Lab	Dewsbury	91.7%	77/84
Liz Blackman	Lab	Erewash	92.9%	78/84
Bob Blizzard	Lab	Waveney	92.9%	78/84
Jeff Ennis	Lab	Barnsley East & Mexborough	92.9%	78/84
Fiona Mactaggart	Lab	Slough	92.9%	78/84
Andrew Miller	Lab	Ellesmere Port & Neston	92.9%	78/84
Kerry McCarthy	Lab	Bristol East	92.9%	78/84
Mary Creagh	Lab	Wakefield	92.9%	78/84
Lyn Brown	Lab	West Ham	92.9%	78/84
Kevin Barron	Lab	Rother Valley	94.0%	79/84
Janet Dean	Lab	Burton	94.0%	79/84
Jim Fitzpatrick	Lab	Poplar & Canning Town	94.0%	79/84
Mike Hall	Lab	Weaver Vale	94.0%	79/84
David Kidney	Lab	Stafford	94.0%	79/84
Shona McIsaac	Lab	Cleethorpes	94.0%	79/84
Judy Mallaber	Lab	Amber Valley	94.0%	79/84
James Plaskitt	Lab	Warwick & Leamington	94.0%	79/84
Nick Raynsford	Lab	Greenwich & Woolwich	94.0%	79/84
Angela Smith	Lab	Basildon	94.0%	79/84
Ann McKechin	Lab	Glasgow North	94.0%	79/84
Clive Efford	Lab	Eltham	95.2%	80/84
David Hanson	Lab	Delyn	95.2%	80/84
Dan Norris	Lab	Wansdyke	95.2%	80/84
Bill Olner	Lab	Nuneaton	95.2%	80/84
Stephen McCabe	Lab	Birmingham, Hall Green	96.4%	81/84
John Spellar	Lab	Warley	96.4%	81/84
Dave Watts	Lab	St Helens North	96.4%	81/84
Helen Goodman	Lab	Bishop Auckland	96.4%	81/84
Andrew Gwynne	Lab	Denton & Reddish	96.4%	81/84
Neil Gerrard	Lab	Walthamstow	97.6%	82/84
Brian Jenkins	Lab	Tamworth	97.6%	82/84
Helen Jones	Lab	Warrington North	97.6%	82/84
Thomas McAvoy	Lab	Rutherglen & Hamilton West	97.6%	82/84
Chris Bryant	Lab	Rhondda	97.6%	82/84
Chris Mole	Lab	Ipswich	97.6%	82/84
Diana Johnson	Lab	Kingston upon Hull North	97.6%	82/84
Tony Cunningham	Lab	Workington	98.8%	83/84
Dennis Skinner	Lab	Bolsover	100.0%	84/84

Some amazing figures in there. In fact, given his 100% record you wonder if the Beast of Bolsover has got a home to go to.

C.

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Notes on calculations

• The above calculations were derived from the voting record freely available from the Public Whip project, and cover the period from Oct 2008 to Dec 2008. The data can be downloaded in the form of a MySQL database, and this was used together with custom MySQL queries to generate the figures.