Yahoo Answers is shutting down on 4 May 2021 (Eastern Time) and the Yahoo Answers website is now in read-only mode. There will be no changes to other Yahoo properties or services, or your Yahoo account. You can find more information about the Yahoo Answers shutdown and how to download your data on this help page.
Are MPs forced to vote in line with their party on policies?
So say, if the government had indicated it wanted to proceed with a badger cull, are their MPs allowed to vote against it, or is it party policy to always vote one way or another?
2 Answers
- ?Lv 77 years ago
It depends on how strongly the party feels about the policy.
Each MP will receive "the whip" each week, which shows the scheduled votes, each underlined one, two, or three times. A "one line whip" means yes, we want you to vote with the party, but you can pair if you want. Pairing is a system where an MP can have an arrangement with an MP from the opposition and agree that "if I want a night off so I can take my wife/husband out to dinner and not be interrupted, or whatever I want to do that day, you agree to do the same that day and also not vote". Fair enough - both Aye and No are deprived of a vote and the result will be the same. Of course the government is bigger than the opposition so not all its members will manage to find a pair. That's just hard luck.
Two lines means it's more serious. Three lines means "this is IMPORTANT and you will jolly well turn up and vote for what the party wants or face the consequences", which could go as far as being kicked out of the party.
Occasionally there are free votes, where both sides agree it's a matter of conscience and the vote is not whipped. As guiri mentions, back when the EU allowed members to have the death penalty, it was traditional after abolition in 1965 for each new Parliament after a general election to have a debate and vote on bringing it back. This was always a free vote as the individual parties had differing opinions amongst themselves. As it happens, the result was always "No".
Each party will have a Chief Whip (the Government Chief Whip is in the Cabinet) and a number of whips under him or her to maintain party discipline. The word "whip" comes from fox hunting where there would be "whippers-in" to keep everything in line. Whips will quite often find out about things they can use against their fellow MPs, such as "I know about your mistress, but I won't tell anyone if you vote the party's way in this important vote next week". Yeah, nasty. But it's what goes on.
- guiriLv 77 years ago
Sometimes. They call it a three line whip.
Some laws, such as voting on the death penalty, are left to MPs to decide as they wish..
See:
