Lords division · 10 Nov 2008 · No. 1

Social Security (Miscellaneous Amendments) (No.4) Regulations 2008

Baroness Thomas of Winchester moved to resolve that this House deplores the way that the Social Security (Miscellaneous Amendments) (No. 4) Regulations 2008, laid before the House on 15 September, cut the backdating period for pension credit, housing benefit and council tax benefit in most cases from 12 months to 3 months, and were: (a) presented with inadequate evidence to support the policy; and (b) laid during the summer recess to come into force on the day Parliament returned, thus not allowing Parliament to consider them before they came into effect;and calls on Her Majesty’s Government to revoke the Regulations because they are likely to increase the number of evictions, and cause particular hardship to older pensioners and those with mental health impairments (SI 2008/2424). The House divided:

The Not Contents have it

Majority 30

Contents: 54 Not Contents: 84

At a glance The Not Contents won by a margin of 30 votes. The Government's position was Not Content, and it won.

How the parties voted

Contents

Liberal Democrat	34
Crossbench	12
Conservative	6
Independent Ulster Unionist	1
Non-affiliated	1

Not Contents

Labour	73
Non-affiliated	6
Crossbench	5

The party breakdowns are our own analysis of the official voting records (recorded votes only; they do not describe the formal whip). How we work this out.

Peers attend divisions ad hoc, so there is no did-not-vote list. Tellers are counted in the Content and Not Content totals, unlike in the Commons.

Tellers: Lord Addington (Content), Lord Shutt of Greetland (Content), Lord Bassam of Brighton (Not Content), Lord Davies of Oldham (Not Content).