Two Warwickshire Tories may face suspension after abstaining on key vote

Two Conservative Warwickshire MPs abstained on last night’s (Oct 19) fracking vote in Parliament, despite the possibility that they could be kicked out of the party for failing to support the Government. It came amid chaotic scenes in Westminster, in which some Tory MPs were accused of “manhandling” and “bullying” their colleagues in order to get them to vote against Labour’s motion. Kenilworth and Southam MP Jeremy Wright and Rugby and Bulkington MP Mark Pawsey both defied a ‘three-line whip’ in failing to vote against a Labour motion that would have guaranteed parliamentary time for a ban on fracking to be introduced.

A ‘three-line whip’ is used by parties at Westminster to ensure their MPs vote a certain way, and suggests serious consequences for those who do not comply. MPs can abstain for a number of reasons. It could be that they don’t wish to vote in line with their party on a matter of principle, for instance in this case if they oppose fracking.

READ MORE:Coventry MP Zarah Sultana calls for General Election after challenging Jeremy Hunt However, it could also simply be because they were not able to be in Parliament due to having urgent constituency or personal issues to attend to. But given the importance Tory whips – those in charge of enforcing party discipline – had put on the vote, they would be expected by their party to have extremely good reasons for not having voted.

Neither MP has yet spoken publicly as to why they abstained. In total, 40 Conservative MPs abstained on the motion, including former Prime Ministers Boris Johnson and Theresa May, and the former Chancellor Kwasi Kwarteng. No Conservatives voted with Labour to support the motion, and the Government won the vote by 326 to 230.

Stratford MP Nadhim Zahawi (Con) and North Warwickshire and Bedworth MP Craig Tracey (Con) both voted against the motion.

Kenilworth and Southam MP Jeremy Wright was one of 40 MPs to abstain on last night’s vote (Image: Getty Images)

Local Labour MPs Colleen Fletcher (Coventry North East), Taiwo Owatemi (Coventry North West), Zarah Sultana (Coventry South) and Matt Western (Warwick and Leamington) all voted for the motion that would have led to the introduction of a law to ban fracking – a controversial technique for recovering gas from shale rock. There had been confusion throughout the day as to whether the vote was to be seen as a ‘confidence vote’ in the Prime Minister Liz Truss. Earlier in the day, Tory whips had told their MPs the vote was a ‘confidence vote’ in Ms Truss and that those who failed to oppose the motion faced being suspended from the party.

However, shortly before the vote was to take place, a minister suggested that this wasn’t in fact the case. It led to huge confusion among Conservatives as to what the consequences would be for them if they failed to vote with the Government. MPs vote by walking into one of two division lobbies – one for and one against a motion.

Labour MP Chris Bryant said he witnessed Conservative MPs being “bullied” into voting with the Government. He told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme: “I saw a whole swathe of MPs effectively pushing one member straight through the door. I’ve seen photographic evidence of one MP’s hand on another.”

This morning there is still uncertainty as to what the consequences will be for Tories who failed to support the Government. BBC Political Editor Chris Mason says that in the middle of the night, at 1.33am on Thursday, he received a WhatsApp message from No 10 saying the vote was subject to a three line whip and that “those without a reasonable excuse for failing to vote with the government can expect proportionate disciplinary action”. It was also unclear yesterday evening as to whether the Chief Whip and Deputy Chief Whip had resigned.

At one point it was being reported that they had, but it was later confirmed that they remained in their positions. Here’s a full list of how Coventry and Warwickshire’s MPs voted last night. The motion was introduced by Labour, in order to allow time for a ban on fracking to be introduced, and it was opposed by the Government:

Coventry North East, Colleen Fletcher (Labour) – For Coventry North West, Taiwo Owatemi (Labour) – For Coventry South, Zarah Sultana (Labour) – For

Warwick and Leamington, Matt Western (Lab) – For Kenilworth and Southam, Jeremy Wright (Con) – abstained Stratford, Nadhim Zahawi (Con) – against

Rugby and Bulkington, Mark Pawsey (Con) – abstained

North Warks and Bedworth, Craig Tracey (Con) – against

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