For or against the People’s Vote?

London4Europe Committee Member Michael Romberg has provided lists of where MPs stand on the People’s Vote and other useful information for when you write or go to see them. Other articles in this series are: how to arrange to see your MP, what messages land with your MP, briefing for the meeting, and a model letter to get you started if you cannot arrange to see your MP.

** Updated 27 September 2019 with later information (Matthew Pennycook MP resigns as shadow minister) **

** If you have publicly available information about your MP that changes their position as displayed, please do send it to us: [email protected]  **

These tables give you information about the London MPs and their constituencies. Notes at the end explain what the abbreviations mean.

Many MPs are toeing the party line. For the Conservatives that is Brexit on whatever deal Theresa May comes up with and no further referendum. The Labour Party conference resolution calls for rejection of the Government’s deal if it fails Keir Starmer’s six tests, followed by an attempt to obtain a general election; if there is no general election then all options are on the table, including a public vote.

The actual personal position of MPs varies of course: ultra-hard Brexit/ soft Brexit/ going along with Brexit/ Remain.

We do not know how many of those apparent party loyalists will break ranks when the real vote comes. They will not tell you in any meeting that you have with them – especially if they are in the Government or a shadow Minister or a Parliamentary Private Secretary. But that does not make a meeting useless. They need to know where you stand.

The information in the tables may help you understand your MP better. We have found some information from the 2016 campaign that may show how sincere a post-referendum conversion to Brexit is. It might even give you a way in to sowing some doubt in the minds of Leave campaigners as to whether their hopes will be realised.

We have not looked at the voting record other than on a referendum because we do not really care about whether they support the single market or customs union. Remain and a referendum to obtain it are all that matters. If interested you can find out more about your MP’s voting record here.

For some MPs it was not worth setting out information. However, where appropriate, if you have better information that can be referenced publicly, eg a press article, do please send it to us.

Liberal Democrat MPs

All Liberal Democrat MPs are reliably in favour of Remain and a referendum on the terms with the option to Remain – lucky you if one of them is your MP

When you write you will no doubt wish to show support for their stance. It would also be worth pointing out that success will come only if MPs from other parties join them. So it will be important to set aside all party political rivalry, no matter how tempting. On 14 June 2019, the Liberal Democrat party Leader Vince Cable welcomed Chuka Umunna as a new MP; Chuka Umunna's reasons for switching here.

Conservative MPs

Justine Greening  came out publicly for a People’s Vote. That is very brave of her – she must be getting a fair amount of aggro from Leave voters and her party.

Jo Johnson had also come out for a People's Vote. However, in July 2019 he re-joined the Government to serve under Boris Johnson. So presumably he is no longer such a supporter of a referendum.

All other Conservative MPs are apparently supportive of the Government’s stance in not wanting a referendum. Some may have come out for a harder or softer Brexit than the Government envisages.

Change UK 

In February 2019 a group of seven MPs left the Labour party to sit as the Independent Group. Other MPs subsequently joined them. They later became a political party and changed their name to Change UK. In June 2019, a number of MPs left Change UK to sit again as independents, supporting each other as an independent grouping of MPs; the London MP who left Change UK was Chuka Umunna who subsequently joined the Liberal Democrats.

All the London members of the group had already been identified as committed supporters of a People's Vote.

The Group's initial statement was unclear on either a referendum or on Remain/ Brexit. But in the European Parliament elections 2019 they published a manifesto called a Charter for Remain which was explicitly for Remain and a Final Say referendum.  You can read about the Group on their website. 

Labour MPs

Labour MPs are divided with some supporting the party line and others having come out for a People’s Vote (and some not obviously declaring their position even if they are not shadow ministers). It is brave of MPs to support a referendum with a Remain option because it must bring them aggro from Leave voters, the official party machinery and those party members who see it as an act of disloyalty to Jeremy Corbyn.

Some “Labour” MPs are actually members of the Co-operative Party, a sister party. The Co-operative party has come out for a people’s vote, but not all of its MPs have done so. Those who have not might be particularly worth pressing.

The November 2018 YouGov Multi-level Regression and Post-Stratification analysis showed that in every Labour-held seat a majority of Labour voters backed a People's Vote and would support Remain; in addition a majority of all voters want a people's Vote. (Figures exclude don't know/ won't answer; constituency figures are in the report.)

Notes on the Tables

MRP - x% for PV - source: November 2018 YouGov Multi-level Regression and Post-Stratification analysis. (Figures exclude don't know/ won't answer. Regrettably, the pollsters have not published their full tables which would show how large these categories are. If there are lots of don't knows, then %ages in favour/ against could move a lot when they make up their minds.)

All voting %ages are for Remain. A shaded box means majority Leave. Source is Best for Britain. Most referendum votes were not counted by constituency so numbers are an estimate. 2018 numbers are from an analysis of an opinion poll – the estimate comes with a margin of error. More on data quality here. For some "battleground" seats, the November 2018 YouGov MRP analysis shows %ages for Remain, excluding don't know/ won't say; that is the second figure,  on the right of the oblique.

Mapping of constituencies and boroughs is from London Councils.

PV? Has the Borough Council come out for a referendum on the terms. Yes, No (positive rejection), GE (seek general election first; if that is not available then all options on table including a public vote), blank (no debate yet held) – result in brackets is where only part of constituency is in that borough - more information, including how to lobby for a motion, is in our latest newsletter.

Notes on MPs:

PV means publicly declared supporter of a People’s Vote. Sources include the Evening Standard, the Indy and the Daily Mirror. Note that in some cases there may be some vagueness about whether they would seek a general election first or whether they are explicit that Remain should be an option.

PV* - recent statement in favour of a People’s Vote or referendum on the terms with Remain option; may include those who supported one or more referendum options in the indicative votes. A ? means that their statement  or action is not clearly showing 100% support in all circumstances, eg will they support a PV against their party?

Revoke = statement in favour of revocation without a prior referendum (possibly to be followed by a referendum)

Opp = opposed to PV (incomplete)

? = unclear statement about people’s vote

PL – has declared their support for the party line (incomplete)

L/R = voted Leave/Remain in 2016 (incomplete) – based on BBC assessment

L*/R* voted Leave/Remain in 2016 – based on information in personal website/ Twitter feed/ newspaper articles – may be worth following the links and looking at the background information for reasons for their then vote. In some cases these relate to issues after the referendum itself. Some are pretty empty tweets – if you have something public that is more revealing of motivation do please send it in to us.

ERG – European Research Group – Jacob Rees-Mogg’s outfit of Brexit ultras, according to Wikipedia (might not be complete)

Res = Resigned from Government at any time over Brexit, resigned from shadow government just after 2016 referendum (usually in protest at lacklustre campaigning by Jeremy Corbyn) or resigned or dismissed from shadow government for Brexit-related reasons later

V voted after June 2016 and before 2017 election for a referendum on the terms of Brexit

V* voted since 2017 election for a referendum on the terms of Brexit (EU Withdrawal Bill 20 December 2017)

V! co-signed a Liberal Democrat amendment which would have provided for the possibility of a referendum on the terms but which was not called for debate and so was not voted on (EU Withdrawal Bill 12 June 2018)

Co-op = member of Co-operative party, which backs a people’s vote, but it does not follow that each individual MP does.

Co-op? = not clear whether Mike Gapes has resigned from the Co-operative Party.

Govt means member of government (has to follow party line or resign)

SM = shadow Minister (has to follow party line or resign)

PPS = Parliamentary Private Secretary to SM or Govt (incomplete) (a Parliamentary assistant to a Minister - has to follow party line or resign)

Survey – that you can fill in if you are a constituent

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