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Parliamentary Affairs Advance Access published online on September 30, 2009
Parliamentary Affairs, doi:10.1093/pa/gsp037
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© The Author [2009]. 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

Party Rules, OK: Voting in the House of Commons on the Human Fertilisation and Embryology Bill

Philip Cowley

University of Nottingham

Mark Stuart

University of Nottingham

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

The Human Fertilisation and Embryology Bill, which passed through the Westminster Parliament in 2007–08, demonstrated the dominance of party, even when the whips are removed and MPs are given a free vote. The party composition of the Commons determined the passage of the Bill and there is evidence that on abortion the dominance of party is becoming stronger still. There was also a gendered dimension to the voting, but even on abortion—the archetypical women's issue—the gender dimension came a poor second to the strength of party in determining the outcome of the vote.


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