The Tory MPs who abstained from last night’s Brexit vote – including May and Cox

June 28, 2022

George Eustice grilled on trade war over Northern Ireland protocol

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MPs overwhelmingly voted in favour of the controversial Northern Ireland Protocol Bill on Monday night, which would allow the UK to scrap Brexit trade arrangements for Northern Ireland. However, the bill has not only been met with heavy criticism from the European Union but also from a number of Conservative Party members, branding it “illegal” and “unnecessary”.

The Northern Ireland Protocol is part of the UK’s Withdrawal Agreement with the EU and sets out special arrangements for Northern Ireland to ensure it remains border-free, allowing a free flow of goods from Great Britain and vice versa through a “green channel”.

It would allow products to be sold in Northern Ireland under either EU or UK rules and gives UK ministers more power to alter tax and spending policies in Northern Ireland.

Despite the possibility of sparking a trade war with the EU, which is naturally resentful towards the Bill, MPs voted 295 to 221 in favour of it.

This means the proposed law will now proceed to line-by-line examination at the committee stage over three days.

Foreign Secretary Liz Truss said the UK had to legislate with urgency in order to persuade Northern Ireland’s Democratic Unionist Party (DUP) to return to the power-sharing institutions it has boycotted since February.

However, a number of Tory MPs abstained from voting on the Bill held in the House of Commons last night, joining the EU in its criticisms that the move would be illegal, and that it “breaks a solemn international treaty”, according to former minister Andrew Mitchell.

Former Prime Minister Theresa May described the Bill as a breach of international law that would “diminish the standing of the United Kingdom in the eyes of the world”.

Simon Hoare, Conservative chair of the Commons Northern Ireland affairs committee, described the Bill as “a failure of statecraft” that “puts at risk the reputation of the United Kingdom”.

Mr Hoare told MPs: “The arguments supporting it are flimsy at best, and irrational at worst … How in the name of heaven can we expect to speak to others with authority when we ourselves shun at a moment’s notice our legal obligations?”

Who abstained from the vote?

A total of 72 Tory MPs abstained from the vote, including the likes of Theresa May and Sir Geoffrey Cox.

The full list includes:

Siobhan Baillie
Harriett Baldwin
Steve Barclay
John Baron
Crispin Blunt
Ben Bradley
Karen Bradley
Sir Graham Brady
Steve Brine
Cono Burns
Theo Clarke
James Cleverly
Sir Geoffrey Cox
Virginia Crosbie
Tracey Crouch
David Davis

Dehanna Davison
Nadine Dorries
Jackie Doyle-Price
Flick Drummond
Tobias Ellwood
Laura Farris
Kevin Foster
Dr Liam Fox
Sir Roger Gale
Nick Gibb
Helen Grant
Robert Halfon
Stephen Hammond
Simon Hart
Simon Hoare
Alister Jack
Ranil Jayawardena
Robert Jenrick
Boris Johnson
Simon Jupp
Alicia Kearns
Julian Knight
Robert Largan
Pauline Latham
Ian Levy
Julian Lewis
Ian Liddell-Grainger
Marco Longhi
Jack Lopresti
Theresa May
Amanda Milling
Andrew Mitchell
Damien Moore
Penny Mordaunt
Holly Mumby-Croft
Sir Robert Neill
Caroline Nokes
Jesse Norman
Priti Patel
Rebecca Pow
Andrew Rosindell
Douglass Ross
Chloe Smith
Julian Smith
Amanda Solloway
Sir Gary Streeter
Rishi Sunak
Derek Thomas
Laura Trott
Tom Tugendhat
Vara Shailesh
Sir Charles Walker
Ben Wallace
Suzanne Webb
Heather Wheeler
Sire Jeremy Wright

What’s next?

Prime Minister Boris Johnson predicted earlier on Monday that the laws could go through “fairly rapidly” and be on the statute books by the end of the year.

The Bill is now expected to be fast-tracked through parliament with a condensed committee stage of just three days, instead of the usual two or three weeks.

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