F.A.Q
Who are you?
Who's funding you?
Why are you doing this?
Do you have any data on previous parliaments?
Why don't you include abstentions?
Why can't I read any of your papers?
Can I get the raw data?
Why aren't there any more FAQs?
Who are you?
This is an academic research project looking at the way MPs and peers vote. It will be (or at least aims to be) useful for journalists, politicians, lobbyists, and members of the public interested in parliamentary behaviour. There are more details here
Who's funding you?
Mainly, the Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC), who have provided a grant to study the 2001 Parliament - and to create this website. But previous research - on which we draw extensively - has been funded by Nottingham University, Hull University, and by the Leverhulme Trust. We are not affiliated to any political party and receive no money from any other sources.
Why are you doing this?
Well, someone has to!
Votes in parliament matter in three ways. First, because of their impact on public policy. Although it is rare to see a government defeated in the Commons, MPs do have the potential to act as a constraint on government, and on 'free votes', those where the party managers don't provide instructions to their MPs, their impact is even more dramatic. Second, MPs also matter symbolically. A party's parliamentarians are one of its most public manifestations - and parties that want to appear united want their MPs to be united.. And, last but certainly not least, MPs matter democratically: if they are nothing else, MPs are representative, each acting for around 70,000 people. What do they do in our name? Knowing about parliamentary behaviour therefore informs our understanding of the political parties themselves, the practice of representation in the UK, and the role of Parliament in the 21st century.
There's more on the background to the project here
Do you have any data on previous parliaments
We can draw on systematic research dating back to the start of the 1945 Parliament, and then on some more sporadic research before that.
The 1997 Parliament is examined in a book by Philip Cowley entitled Revolts and Rebellions: Parliamentary Voting Under Blair published by Politico's in 2002, which won the UK Political Studies Association's W. J. M. Mackenzie Prize for the Best Book Published in Political Science that year. A series of already published articles covering the period since 1992 is available from here, and there are also two large volumes detailing every rebellion between 1945 and 1979: Dissension in the House of Commons 1945-1974 (Macmillan, 1975) and Dissension in the House of Commons 1974-1979 (Clarendon Press, 1980). Both are by Philip Norton and both do what they say on the tin.
Why don't you include abstentions?
One drawback of divisions in both the Commons and the Lords is that, unlike in some legislative chambers, abstentions cannot be formally recorded. The whips may formally sanction an absence from a vote, it may be accidental, or it may be deliberate. There is no information on the record that allows us to establish, at least not systematically, the cause of absences. We cannot therefore necessarily read anything into non-voting. For the purpose of systematic analysis over time, therefore, we have to rely on the votes cast.
Why can't I read any of your papers?
All the papers require an Adobe Acrobat reader, available for free from here
Can I get the raw data?
Raw data for the 2001 Parliament is not available from here, although a related research project can provide full datasets for the 1992 and 1997 Parliaments, and for the 2001 Parliament up to July 2003 . There's also The Public Whip - although their raison d'etre is different to ours, as is their method of calculating the number of rebellions. (They don't distinguish between whipped and unwhipped votes, for example).
Datasets available from the UK Data Archive cover both rebellions and free votes between 1979 and 1997, along with some data on Labour in government in 1924 and 1929-31. And Iain McLean's website offers an updated version of the Aydelotte dataset, covering the 815 Members of Parliament who served in the House of Commons between 1841 and 1847.
Why aren't there any more FAQs?
Because no one's asked them yet. But if you've got a query, email us at info@revolts.co.uk here, and we'll do our best to help.
Who's funding you?
Why are you doing this?
Do you have any data on previous parliaments?
Why don't you include abstentions?
Why can't I read any of your papers?
Can I get the raw data?
Why aren't there any more FAQs?
Who are you?
This is an academic research project looking at the way MPs and peers vote. It will be (or at least aims to be) useful for journalists, politicians, lobbyists, and members of the public interested in parliamentary behaviour. There are more details here
Who's funding you?
Mainly, the Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC), who have provided a grant to study the 2001 Parliament - and to create this website. But previous research - on which we draw extensively - has been funded by Nottingham University, Hull University, and by the Leverhulme Trust. We are not affiliated to any political party and receive no money from any other sources.
Why are you doing this?
Well, someone has to!
Votes in parliament matter in three ways. First, because of their impact on public policy. Although it is rare to see a government defeated in the Commons, MPs do have the potential to act as a constraint on government, and on 'free votes', those where the party managers don't provide instructions to their MPs, their impact is even more dramatic. Second, MPs also matter symbolically. A party's parliamentarians are one of its most public manifestations - and parties that want to appear united want their MPs to be united.. And, last but certainly not least, MPs matter democratically: if they are nothing else, MPs are representative, each acting for around 70,000 people. What do they do in our name? Knowing about parliamentary behaviour therefore informs our understanding of the political parties themselves, the practice of representation in the UK, and the role of Parliament in the 21st century.
There's more on the background to the project here
Do you have any data on previous parliaments
We can draw on systematic research dating back to the start of the 1945 Parliament, and then on some more sporadic research before that.
The 1997 Parliament is examined in a book by Philip Cowley entitled Revolts and Rebellions: Parliamentary Voting Under Blair published by Politico's in 2002, which won the UK Political Studies Association's W. J. M. Mackenzie Prize for the Best Book Published in Political Science that year. A series of already published articles covering the period since 1992 is available from here, and there are also two large volumes detailing every rebellion between 1945 and 1979: Dissension in the House of Commons 1945-1974 (Macmillan, 1975) and Dissension in the House of Commons 1974-1979 (Clarendon Press, 1980). Both are by Philip Norton and both do what they say on the tin.
Why don't you include abstentions?
One drawback of divisions in both the Commons and the Lords is that, unlike in some legislative chambers, abstentions cannot be formally recorded. The whips may formally sanction an absence from a vote, it may be accidental, or it may be deliberate. There is no information on the record that allows us to establish, at least not systematically, the cause of absences. We cannot therefore necessarily read anything into non-voting. For the purpose of systematic analysis over time, therefore, we have to rely on the votes cast.
Why can't I read any of your papers?
All the papers require an Adobe Acrobat reader, available for free from here
Can I get the raw data?
Raw data for the 2001 Parliament is not available from here, although a related research project can provide full datasets for the 1992 and 1997 Parliaments, and for the 2001 Parliament up to July 2003 . There's also The Public Whip - although their raison d'etre is different to ours, as is their method of calculating the number of rebellions. (They don't distinguish between whipped and unwhipped votes, for example).
Datasets available from the UK Data Archive cover both rebellions and free votes between 1979 and 1997, along with some data on Labour in government in 1924 and 1929-31. And Iain McLean's website offers an updated version of the Aydelotte dataset, covering the 815 Members of Parliament who served in the House of Commons between 1841 and 1847.
Why aren't there any more FAQs?
Because no one's asked them yet. But if you've got a query, email us at info@revolts.co.uk here, and we'll do our best to help.
