Voting summaries
For period: All time
MPs have many roles, but one of the most important is that they make decisions. These decisions shape the laws that govern us, and can affect every aspect of how we live our lives.
One of the ways MPs make decisions is by voting.
On TheyWorkForYou, we create voting summaries that group a set of decisions together, show how an MP has generally voted on a set of related votes, and if they differ from their party.
You can see these groups, randomly ordered, below.
You can read more about how this works, the kinds of votes we include, how we compare MPs to parties, and why we think this is important.
These summaries are created by the team at TheyWorkForYou. We are independent of Parliament and receive no public funding for this work.
Learn more about how we'll use your donation and other ways to help.
How Alex Salmond voted on Home Affairs #
For votes held while they were in office:
-
Consistently voted against introducing ID cards Show votes
12 votes against, between 2004 and 2006. Comparable Scottish National Party MPs almost always voted against.
-
Almost always voted against a stricter asylum system Show votes
1 vote for, 12 votes against, 3 absences, between 2002 and 2016. Comparable Scottish National Party MPs almost always voted against.
-
Generally voted against requiring the mass retention of information about communications Show votes
2 votes against, 1 absence, between 2009 and 2016. Comparable Scottish National Party MPs consistently voted against.
-
Consistently voted against stronger laws and enforcement of immigration rules Show votes
7 votes against, 1 absence, between 2015 and 2016. Comparable Scottish National Party MPs consistently voted against.
-
Generally voted against mass surveillance of people’s communications and activities Show votes
2 votes against, 1 absence, in 2016. Comparable Scottish National Party MPs generally voted against.
-
Consistently voted against restricting the right to protest Show votes
2 votes against, between 1998 and 2005. Comparable Scottish National Party MPs consistently voted against.
Last updated: 22 May 2024.
Learn more about our voting records and what they mean.
For votes held while they were in office:
-
Voted a mixture of for and against a wholly elected House of Lords Show votes
1 vote for, 1 vote against, between 2003 and 2016. Comparable Scottish National Party MPs voted a mixture of for and against.
-
Generally voted for a lower voting age Show votes
2 votes for, 4 absences, between 2004 and 2016. Comparable Scottish National Party MPs generally voted for.
-
Consistently voted against more powers for government ministers Show votes
1 vote against, in 2006. Comparable Scottish National Party MPs generally voted against.
-
Generally voted for removing hereditary peers from the House of Lords Show votes
1 vote for, 3 absences, between 1999 and 2016. Comparable Scottish National Party MPs generally voted for.
-
Generally voted for a more proportional system for electing MPs Show votes
1 vote for, 1 absence, between 2010 and 2016. Comparable Scottish National Party MPs generally voted for.
-
Consistently voted against an equal number of electors per parliamentary constituency Show votes
1 vote against, in 2016. Comparable Scottish National Party MPs generally voted against.
-
Consistently voted against fewer MPs in the House of Commons Show votes
1 vote against, in 2016. Comparable Scottish National Party MPs generally voted against.
Absences for this policy may be affected COVID-19 restrictions.
-
Voted a mixture of for and against more powers for local councils Show votes
1 vote for, 1 vote against, 5 absences, between 2015 and 2016. Comparable Scottish National Party MPs voted a mixture of for and against.
-
Consistently voted for transferring more powers to the Scottish Parliament Show votes
18 votes for, 1 absence, in 2015. Comparable Scottish National Party MPs almost always voted for.
-
Consistently voted against a veto for MPs from England, Wales and Northern Ireland over laws specifically impacting their part of the UK Show votes
1 vote against, in 2015. Comparable Scottish National Party MPs consistently voted against.
Last updated: 3 December 2024.
Learn more about our voting records and what they mean.
How Alex Salmond voted on Foreign Policy and Defence #
For votes held while they were in office:
-
Consistently voted for investigations into the Iraq war Show votes
2 votes for, between 2003 and 2016. Comparable Scottish National Party MPs consistently voted for.
-
Consistently voted against replacing Trident with a new nuclear weapons system Show votes
3 votes against, between 2007 and 2016. Comparable Scottish National Party MPs consistently voted against.
-
Consistently voted against a referendum on the UK's membership of the EU Show votes
3 votes against, between 2008 and 2016. Comparable Scottish National Party MPs consistently voted against.
-
Consistently voted against the Iraq war Show votes
2 votes against, between 2002 and 2003. Comparable Scottish National Party MPs consistently voted against.
-
Generally voted for more EU integration Show votes
10 votes for, 2 votes against, 8 absences, between 2006 and 2017. Comparable Scottish National Party MPs generally voted for.
-
Consistently voted against use of UK military forces in combat operations overseas Show votes
4 votes against, between 2002 and 2015. Comparable Scottish National Party MPs consistently voted against.
-
Consistently voted against military action against ISIL (Daesh) Show votes
2 votes against, in 2015. Comparable Scottish National Party MPs consistently voted against.
-
Consistently voted for UK membership of the EU Show votes
6 votes for, between 2016 and 2017. Comparable Scottish National Party MPs consistently voted for.
-
Consistently voted for a right to remain for EU nationals already in living in the UK Show votes
8 votes for, between 2016 and 2017. Comparable Scottish National Party MPs consistently voted for.
Last updated: 18 May 2022.
Learn more about our voting records and what they mean.
How Alex Salmond voted on Taxation and Employment #
For votes held while they were in office:
-
Consistently voted against raising the threshold at which people start to pay income tax Show votes
6 votes against, 1 absence, between 2015 and 2016. Comparable Scottish National Party MPs consistently voted against.
-
Generally voted against higher taxes on alcoholic drinks Show votes
2 votes against, 2 absences, between 2010 and 2017. Comparable Scottish National Party MPs consistently voted against.
-
Generally voted against more restrictive regulation of trade union activity Show votes
4 votes against, 6 absences, between 2008 and 2017. Comparable Scottish National Party MPs consistently voted against.
-
Consistently voted for higher taxes on banks Show votes
3 votes for, in 2015. Comparable Scottish National Party MPs consistently voted for.
-
Generally voted against reducing capital gains tax Show votes
3 votes against, 3 absences, in 2016. Comparable Scottish National Party MPs consistently voted against.
-
Generally voted for increasing capital gains tax Show votes
3 votes for, 2 absences, in 2016. Comparable Scottish National Party MPs consistently voted for.
Last updated: 6 November 2024.
Learn more about our voting records and what they mean.
How Alex Salmond voted on Health #
For votes held while they were in office:
-
Generally voted against introducing foundation hospitals Show votes
3 votes against, 2 absences, in 2003. Comparable Scottish National Party MPs generally voted against.
-
Generally voted against allowing terminally ill people to be given assistance to end their life Show votes
1 vote against, 1 absence, between 1997 and 2015. Comparable Scottish National Party MPs generally voted against.
-
Generally voted against restricting the sale and advertising of tobacco and other nicotine products Show votes
1 vote for, 2 votes against, 6 absences, between 2001 and 2017. Comparable Scottish National Party MPs generally voted against.
-
Voted a mixture of for and against fewer obstacles for access to abortion Show votes
2 votes for, 2 votes against, 3 absences, between 2007 and 2017. Comparable Scottish National Party MPs generally voted for.
Last updated: 29 November 2024.
Learn more about our voting records and what they mean.
As a result of COVID-19, some MPs were less able to vote in Parliament in certain periods, and this will be reflected by absences in their voting record.
- 11th May to 2nd June 2020
-
All MPs could vote remotely through an online voting tool. Votes cast remotely are shown as normal on the TheyWorkForYou voting record.
- 2nd to 9th June 2020
-
The option of online voting was removed, and a number of MPs may have been unable to vote because they were not physically able to attend.
- 10th June 2020 onwards
-
The requirements on proxy voting were relaxed, allowing MPs to designate another MP to cast a vote on their behalf.
If an MP votes by proxy, it is effectively exactly the same as if they cast the vote in person and it shows up on their TheyWorkForYou voting record.
MPs are not required to designate a proxy, and may instead pair with an opposing MP to miss a vote. Parliament does not record when two MPs have come to a pairing arrangement, so on TheyWorkForYou, they will both appear to have been absent for the vote.
See more detail on votes during the COVID-19 period here.
Note for journalists and researchers: The data on this page may be used freely, on condition that TheyWorkForYou.com is cited as the source.
This data was produced by TheyWorkForYou from a variety of sources.
For an explanation of the vote descriptions please see our page about voting information on TheyWorkForYou.
Profile photo: Open Government License version 1.0