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Alistair Darling
Labour MP for Edinburgh South West
- Also represented Edinburgh Central
- Entered Parliament on 11 June 1987 — General election
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- Voting record
- Topics of interest
- Most recent appearances
- Numerology
- Register of Members’ Interests
- Expenses
Voting record (from PublicWhip)
How Alistair Darling voted on key issues since 2001:
- Voted very strongly for the Iraq war. votes
- Voted strongly against an investigation into the Iraq war. votes
- Voted strongly for Labour's anti-terrorism laws. votes
- Voted moderately for replacing Trident. votes
- Voted strongly for equal gay rights. votes
- Voted moderately for university tuition fees. votes
- Voted against raising England’s undergraduate tuition fee cap to £9,000 per year. votes
- Voted a mixture of for and against a more proportional system for electing MPs. votes
- Voted moderately for a smoking ban. votes
- Has never voted on the hunting ban. votes
- Voted moderately for a stricter asylum system. votes
- Voted a mixture of for and against a transparent Parliament. votes
- Voted very strongly for introducing foundation hospitals. votes
- Voted moderately for more EU integration. votes
- Voted very strongly for introducing ID cards. votes
- Voted strongly against increasing the rate of VAT. votes
- Voted very strongly for allowing ministers to intervene in inquests. votes
- Voted moderately for removing hereditary peers from the House of Lords. votes
- Voted moderately for a wholly elected House of Lords. votes
- Voted a mixture of for and against laws to stop climate change. votes
- Voted a mixture of for and against automatic enrolment in occupational pensions. votes
- Voted moderately against encouraging occupational pensions. votes
- Voted moderately against greater autonomy for schools. votes
Read about how the voting record is decided.
More on well-known issues (from the Guardian) & their full record
- Never rebels against their party in this parliament.
Topics of interest
Asks most questions about
- Departments: Treasury, Home Department, Defence, Transport, Work and Pensions
- Subjects (based on headings added by Hansard): Military Bases, Identity and Passport Service: Correspondence, Public Expenditure, Financial Services: Regulation, Jobcentre Plus: Crimes of Violence
(based on written questions asked by Alistair Darling and answered by departments)
Most recent appearances
- Oral Answers to Questions — Defence: Banking Commission Report (19 Dec 2011)
“I welcome the Vickers report and I am glad to hear that it is being implemented, but will the Chancellor be careful about overselling this? This would not have stopped the failure of Northern Rock or HBOS, and the idea that a future Government might decline to step in and rescue an investment bank if it failed is simply not credible. Look what happened to Lehmans when the Americans tried...”
- Chancellor of the Exchequer: The Economy (6 Dec 2011)
“I hope that the hon. Member for Skipton and Ripon (Julian Smith) will forgive me for not following him, given the short time I have available. The real problem we face in this country, in Europe and, to a large extent, in America too, is the lack of growth. The Chancellor opened his remarks by saying that the previous Government had been too optimistic about some of their forecasts. He...”
- Chancellor of the Exchequer: The Economy (6 Dec 2011)
“I am, and I shall come on to that in a minute, but I want to make a further point. If the OBR comes out with another downward revision of its figures at the time of the Budget next March, does it mean that we are going to embark on yet another round of reducing expenditure? It this not the same sort of argument that we had in the 1930s? The prevailing orthodoxy did not work then, and it will...”
More of Alistair Darling's recent appearances
Numerology
Please note that numbers do not measure quality. Also, representatives may do other things not currently covered by this site. (More about this)
- Has spoken in 11 debates in the last year — well below average amongst MPs.
- Has received answers to 18 written questions in the last year — below average amongst MPs.
- Replied within 2 or 3 weeks to a medium number of messages sent via WriteToThem.com during 2008, according to constituents.
- Has voted in 51.00% of votes in this Parliament with this affiliation — well below average amongst MPs. (From Public Whip)
- People have made 68 annotations on this MP’s speeches — well above average amongst MPs.
- This MP's speeches, in Hansard, are readable by an average 17–18 year old, going by the Flesch-Kincaid Grade Level score.
- 78 people are tracking this MP — email me updates on Alistair Darling’s activity.
- Has used three-word alliterative phrases (e.g. "she sells seashells") 2461 times in debates — well above average amongst MPs. (Why is this here?)
Register of Members’ Interests
Register last updated: 13 Jan 2012. More about the Register
View the history of this MP's entries in the Register
Expenses
Figures in brackets are ranks.Data from parliament.uk (source). Read 2004/05 – 2008/09 and 1st quarter 2009/10 receipts.
| Type | 2008/09 (ranking out of 647) | 2007/08 (ranking out of 645) | 2006/07 (ranking out of 645) | 2005/06 | 2004/05 (ranking out of 659) | 2003/04 (ranking out of 658) | 2002/03 (ranking out of 657) | 2001/02 (ranking out of 657) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Staying away from main home | £10,626 (497th) | £9,837 (554th) | £20,675 (364th) | £19,436 | £15,341 (481st) | £15,406 (459th) | £14,792 (525th) | £15,756 (229th) |
| London costs | £0 | £0 | £0 | £0 | £1,618 (joint 1st with 118 others) | £1,574 (joint 1st with 101 others) | £1,527 (joint 1st with 101 others) | £1,227 (joint 1st with 81 others) |
| Office running costs | £12,848 (510th) | £19,085 (291st) | £19,137 (425th) | £20,919 | £17,591 (378th) | £16,151 (551st) | £16,113 (joint 513th with 1 other) | £10,259 (518th) |
| Staffing costs | £97,284 (263rd) | £90,933 (158th) | £81,725 (409th) | £83,991 | £65,468 (532nd) | £62,983 (540th) | £52,399 (610th) | £27,874 (636th) |
| Communications Allowance | £9,960 (joint 243rd with 1 other) | £7,579 (354th) | N/A | N/A | N/A | N/A | N/A | N/A |
| Members' Travel | £8,504 (267th)1 | £11,367 (164th)2 | £12,045 (133rd)3 | £12,360 | £13,253 (208th) | £13,633 (188th) | £14,575 (156th) | £11,375 (159th) |
| Members' Staff Travel | £327 (223rd) | £591 (178th) | £362 (256th) | £39 | £0 | £257 (344th) | £0 | £0 |
| Members' Spouse Travel | £5,781 (4th) | £5,283 (4th) | N/A | N/A | N/A | N/A | N/A | N/A |
| Members' Family Travel | £1,232 (13th) | £4,391 (2nd) | N/A | N/A | N/A | N/A | N/A | N/A |
| Centrally Purchased Stationery | £1,882 (530th) | £423 (joint 534th with 1 other) | £251 (621st) | £595 | £992 (297th) | £399 (562nd) | £580 (535th) | £87 (644th) |
| Stationery: Associated Postage Costs | £1,394 (491st) | £1,745 (454th) | £1,032 | £1,964 (410th) | £914 (576th) | N/A | N/A | |
| Centrally Provided Computer Equipment | £1,021 (562nd) | £914 (550th) | £733 | £1,412 (598th) | £1,412 (587th) | £1,412 (571st) | £1,018 (558th) | |
| Other Costs | £0 | £0 | £0 | £0 | £0 | £0 | £0 | £0 |
| Total | £148,444 (345th) | £151,904 (240th) | £136,854 (341st) | £139,105 | £117,639 (446th) | £112,729 (471st) | £101,398 (527th) | £67,596 (614th) |
1 Regular journeys between home/constituency/Westminster: Rail £1,956 (357th). Air £6,548 (59th).
2 Regular journeys between home/constituency/Westminster: Mileage £248 (575th). Rail £1,086 (428th). Air £10,033 (39th).
