Voting summaries
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.
If you want to support and help us improve these summaries, please consider donating.
Learn more about how we'll use your donation and other ways to help.
How Andy Sawford voted on Miscellaneous Topics #
For votes held while they were in office:
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Consistently voted for restrictions on fees charged to tenants by letting agents Show votes
1 vote for, 0 votes against, in 2014. Comparable Labour MPs consistently voted against.
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Voted against limits on success fees paid to lawyers in no-win no fee cases Show votes
0 votes for, 1 vote against, in 2013. Comparable Labour MPs consistently voted against.
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Consistently voted against a statutory register of lobbyists Show votes
0 votes for, 3 votes against, in 2013. Comparable Labour MPs consistently voted against.
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Voted a mixture of for and against restricting the scope of legal aid Show votes
1 vote for, 1 vote against, between 2012–2014. Comparable Labour MPs voted a mixture of for and against.
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Generally voted against allowing national security sensitive evidence to be put before courts in secret sessions Show votes
0 votes for, 4 votes against, 2 absences, in 2013. Comparable Labour MPs voted a mixture of for and against.
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Consistently voted for requiring pub companies to offer pub landlords rent-only leases Show votes
1 vote for, 0 votes against, in 2014. Comparable Labour MPs voted a mixture of for and against.
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Consistently voted for greater regulation of gambling Show votes
3 votes for, 0 votes against, in 2013. Comparable Labour MPs consistently voted for.
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Generally voted against the policies included in the 2010 Conservative - Liberal Democrat Coalition Agreement Show votes
4 votes for, 13 votes against, 3 absences, between 2013–2014. Comparable Labour MPs generally voted against.
Last updated: 26 April 2022.
Learn more about our voting records and what they mean.
How Andy Sawford voted on Foreign Policy and Defence #
For votes held while they were in office:
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Generally voted for more EU integration Show votes
3 votes for, 0 votes against, 5 absences, between 2013–2014. Comparable Labour MPs almost always voted against.
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Has never voted in a major vote about a referendum on the UK's membership of the EU Show votes
0 votes for, 0 votes against, 2 absences, between 2013–2014.
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Consistently voted for use of UK military forces in combat operations overseas Show votes
1 vote for, 0 votes against, in 2014. Comparable Labour MPs almost always voted for.
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Voted for military action against ISIL (Daesh) Show votes
1 vote for, 0 votes against, in 2014. Comparable Labour MPs almost always voted for.
Last updated: 18 May 2022.
Learn more about our voting records and what they mean.
For votes held while they were in office:
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Voted against local councils keeping money raised from taxes on business premises in their areas Show votes
0 votes for, 1 vote against, in 2013. Comparable Labour MPs consistently voted for.
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Voted for transferring more powers to the Scottish Parliament Show votes
1 vote for, 0 votes against, in 2015. Comparable Labour MPs consistently voted for.
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Voted against fewer MPs in the House of Commons Show votes
0 votes for, 1 vote against, in 2013. Comparable Labour MPs consistently voted for.
Absences for this policy may be affected COVID-19 restrictions.
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Consistently voted against reducing central government funding of local government Show votes
0 votes for, 2 votes against, between 2013–2015. Comparable Labour MPs consistently voted for.
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Voted against an equal number of electors per parliamentary constituency Show votes
0 votes for, 1 vote against, in 2013. Comparable Labour MPs consistently voted for.
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Consistently voted against greater restrictions on campaigning by third parties, such as charities, during elections Show votes
0 votes for, 11 votes against, between 2013–2014. Comparable Labour MPs almost always voted against.
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Consistently voted for more powers for local councils Show votes
3 votes for, 0 votes against, between 2012–2015. Comparable Labour MPs almost always voted against.
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Generally voted for transferring more powers to the Senedd/Welsh Parliament Show votes
1 vote for, 0 votes against, 6 absences, in 2014. Comparable Labour MPs almost always voted against.
Last updated: 16 January 2024.
Learn more about our voting records and what they mean.
How Andy Sawford voted on Taxation and Employment #
For votes held while they were in office:
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Generally voted against higher taxes on plane tickets Show votes
0 votes for, 2 votes against, 3 absences, between 2013–2014. Comparable Labour MPs almost always voted against.
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Consistently voted against higher taxes on banks Show votes
0 votes for, 3 votes against, between 2014–2015. Comparable Labour MPs almost always voted against.
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Voted against increasing the rate of VAT Show votes
0 votes for, 1 vote against, in 2013. Comparable Labour MPs almost always voted against.
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Consistently voted for an annual tax on the value of expensive homes (popularly known as a mansion tax) Show votes
2 votes for, 0 votes against, in 2013. Comparable Labour MPs almost always voted against.
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Consistently voted against lower taxes on fuel for motor vehicles Show votes
0 votes for, 1 vote against, in 2013. Comparable Labour MPs almost always voted against.
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Consistently voted against allowing employees to exchange some employment rights for shares in the company they work for Show votes
0 votes for, 4 votes against, between 2012–2013. Comparable Labour MPs almost always voted against.
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Consistently voted against raising the threshold at which people start to pay income tax Show votes
0 votes for, 10 votes against, between 2013–2015. Comparable Labour MPs almost always voted against.
Last updated: 18 May 2022.
Learn more about our voting records and what they mean.
How Andy Sawford voted on Environmental Issues #
For votes held while they were in office:
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Generally voted for new high speed rail infrastructure Show votes
3 votes for, 0 votes against, 2 absences, between 2013–2014. Comparable Labour MPs consistently voted for.
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Consistently voted against lower taxes on fuel for motor vehicles Show votes
0 votes for, 1 vote against, in 2013. Comparable Labour MPs consistently voted for.
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Generally voted for greater regulation of hydraulic fracturing (fracking) to extract shale gas Show votes
1 vote for, 0 votes against, 1 absence, in 2015. Comparable Labour MPs consistently voted for.
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Generally voted against higher taxes on plane tickets Show votes
0 votes for, 2 votes against, 3 absences, between 2013–2014. Comparable Labour MPs consistently voted for.
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Generally voted for financial incentives for low carbon emission electricity generation methods Show votes
2 votes for, 1 vote against, between 2012–2013. Comparable Labour MPs generally voted for.
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Generally voted for measures to prevent climate change Show votes
4 votes for, 1 vote against, between 2012–2013. Comparable Labour MPs generally voted for.
Last updated: 20 February 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
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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
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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
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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.