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Parliamentary Affairs Advance Access originally published online on October 15, 2008
Parliamentary Affairs 2009 62(1):19-31; doi:10.1093/pa/gsn033
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© The Author [2008]. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of the Hansard Society for Parliamentary Government; all rights reserved. For permissions, please e-mail: journals.permissions@oxfordjournals.org

There was a Doctor, a Journalist and Two Welshmen: the Voting Behaviour of Independent MPs in the United Kingdom House of Commons, 1997–2007

Philip Cowley

School of Politics & International Relations
Nottingham University
UK

Mark Stuart

School of Politics & International Relations
Nottingham University
UK
member{at}york25.fsnet.co.uk

Correspondence: philip.cowley{at}nottingham.ac.uk

Ever since the abolition of university constituencies in 1950, independent MPs have been a very rare species at Westminster. Martin Bell, elected for Tatton in 1997, was the first mainland Independent MP elected since 1950. Since Bell's election only three other independents have been elected to the House of Commons. The paper explores the voting behaviour of these MPs to examine the nature of independence in the House of Commons and asks whether their votes favour the government, or a particular political party. The paper also considers the relationship between the independent MPs and their constituents to examine if they act as a delegate of those constituents or act as a broader focused ‘Burkean’ trustee. As Independent MPs do not have a Westminster party machine to support them and to provide information and advice, then, for the Independent, faced with making a personal decision each time they vote, every vote is a free vote. The paper examines how independents obtain the information they need to make informed decisions on how to vote and what other strategies they employ to influence politics.


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