ROLL OF HONOUR

Having just been given a copy of Hansard including the recent debate on the UK Climate Change Bill Third Reading I thought I ought to pay tribute to the small band of MPs who defied the whips and voted against this monstrous attack on our nation. The vote was 463 in favour and 3 against. Each side has 2 tellers so I will include the two as they also supported the opposition. There are 646 MPs and so as only 470 voted, another 176 thought it not worth opposing, or some might have thought it a lost cause to fight against it. Of course the "whipping" system was used to persuade any ditherers to support the party line, so there are no doubt some (maybe many) who do not agree with the bill, but voted for it in order to safeguard their job on the front benches - that is how parliament works.

If the sceptics are eventually proved to be correct and temperatures do not continue to rise in line with predictions by alarmists, then the 641 MPs who did not vote against it will be seen to have failed in their duty to look after the interests of the people. In the mean time the measures that they approved will lead to considerable cost increases in almost everything that we purchase. All for nothing.

Those voting for common sense were CHRISTOPHER CHOPE (Conservative)
PETER LILLEY (Conservative)
ANDREW TYRIE (Conservative)
ANN WIDDECOMBE (Conservative)
PHILIP DAVIES (Conservative)