Lords division · 9 Feb 2004 · No. 1

Mersey Tunnels Bill

It was moved by the Lord Hunt of Wirral that it be an instruction to the Select Committee to whom the bill is committed that they should consider— (a) whether the power of the Secretary of State to increase all or any of the tolls by order is justified; and (b) whether the provisions of the bill provide an adequate mechanism for taking into account the views of the five district councils on Merseyside (the Metropolitan Borough of Wirral, Liverpool, Sefton, Knowsley and St Helens) in respect of: (i) increases in tolls; (ii) the use of surplus tunnel toll income to improve public transport services on Merseyside; and (iii) the desirability of repaying the existing debt on the tunnels before applying surplus toll income to other projects; which being objected to, the question was put thereupon, and the House divided:

The Not Contents have it

Majority 1

Contents: 26 Not Contents: 27

At a glance The Not Contents won by a margin of 1 vote. The Government's position was Not Content, and it lost. This was not a whipped vote, so no party line applied.

How the parties voted

Contents

Conservative	22
Labour	2
Crossbench	2

Not Contents

Labour	15
Liberal Democrat	10
Non-affiliated	1
Bishops	1

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 Henley (Content), Lord Wade of Chorlton (Content), Lord Faulkner of Worcester (Not Content), Lord Rennard (Not Content).