Kenneth Macintosh
Labour
There are three questions to be put as a result of today’s business. I remind members that if the Amendment in the name of Adam Tomkins is agreed to, the amendment in the name of Alex Rowley will fall.
The first question is, that amendment S5M-05594.2, in the name of Adam Tomkins, which seeks to amend motion S5M-05594, in the name of Jeane Freeman, on a fairer Scotland for disabled people, be agreed to. Are we agreed?
The Presiding Officer:
There will be a Division.
Division number 1
Decision Time
The Presiding Officer:
The result of the Division is: For 25, Against 74, Abstentions 0.
Amendment disagreed to.
The next question is, that amendment S5M-05594.1, in the name of Alex Rowley, which seeks to amend motion S5M-05594.1, in the name of Jeane Freeman, on a fairer Scotland for disabled people, be agreed to. Are we agreed?
The Presiding Officer:
There will be a Division.
Division number 2
Decision Time
The Presiding Officer:
The result of the Division is: For 74, Against 25, Abstentions 0.
Amendment agreed to.
The final question is, that motion S5M-05594, in the name of Jeane Freeman, on a fairer Scotland for disabled people, as amended, be agreed to. Are we agreed?
The Presiding Officer:
There will be a Division.
Division number 3
Decision Time
The Presiding Officer:
The result of the Division is: For 74, Against 25, Abstentions 0.
Motion, as amended, agreed to,
That the Parliament recognises the valuable contribution that disabled people make to Scottish society and Scotland as a whole; acknowledges that transformational change is needed in order for disabled people to realise their full potential; agrees that this can be achieved by working with disabled people and their organisations and therefore supports the co-production approach and actions set out in
A Fairer Scotland for Disabled People: Our Delivery Plan to 2021 for the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities
; recognises the Scottish Government’s commitment to implementing the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities so that disabled people in Scotland can exercise all of their human rights; notes the UN Committee on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities’ report in 2016, which found evidence of grave and systematic violations of disabled people’s rights by the UK Government’s welfare reforms; is particularly concerned at the Equalities and Human Rights Commission’s findings that these welfare reforms imposed by the Conservative administration have resulted in a ‘particularly disproportionate, cumulative impact on the rights to independent living and an adequate standard of living for disabled people’, and condemns these cuts, which have caused major harm to the rights of disabled people
As a bill passes through Parliament, MPs and peers may suggest amendments - or changes - which they believe will improve the quality of the legislation.
Many hundreds of amendments are proposed by members to major bills as they pass through committee stage, report stage and third reading in both Houses of Parliament.
In the end only a handful of amendments will be incorporated into any bill.
The Speaker - or the chairman in the case of standing committees - has the power to select which amendments should be debated.
The House of Commons votes by dividing. Those voting Aye (yes) to any proposition walk through the division lobby to the right of the Speaker and those voting no through the lobby to the left. In each of the lobbies there are desks occupied by Clerks who tick Members' names off division lists as they pass through. Then at the exit doors the Members are counted by two Members acting as tellers. The Speaker calls for a vote by announcing "Clear the Lobbies". In the House of Lords "Clear the Bar" is called. Division Bells ring throughout the building and the police direct all Strangers to leave the vicinity of the Members’ Lobby. They also walk through the public rooms of the House shouting "division". MPs have eight minutes to get to the Division Lobby before the doors are closed. Members make their way to the Chamber, where Whips are on hand to remind the uncertain which way, if any, their party is voting. Meanwhile the Clerks who will take the names of those voting have taken their place at the high tables with the alphabetical lists of MPs' names on which ticks are made to record the vote. When the tellers are ready the counting process begins - the recording of names by the Clerk and the counting of heads by the tellers. When both lobbies have been counted and the figures entered on a card this is given to the Speaker who reads the figures and announces "So the Ayes [or Noes] have it". In the House of Lords the process is the same except that the Lobbies are called the Contents Lobby and the Not Contents Lobby. Unlike many other legislatures, the House of Commons and the House of Lords have not adopted a mechanical or electronic means of voting. This was considered in 1998 but rejected. Divisions rarely take less than ten minutes and those where most Members are voting usually take about fifteen. Further information can be obtained from factsheet P9 at the UK Parliament site.
The House of Commons votes by dividing. Those voting Aye (yes) to any proposition walk through the division lobby to the right of the Speaker and those voting no through the lobby to the left. In each of the lobbies there are desks occupied by Clerks who tick Members' names off division lists as they pass through. Then at the exit doors the Members are counted by two Members acting as tellers. The Speaker calls for a vote by announcing "Clear the Lobbies". In the House of Lords "Clear the Bar" is called. Division Bells ring throughout the building and the police direct all Strangers to leave the vicinity of the Members’ Lobby. They also walk through the public rooms of the House shouting "division". MPs have eight minutes to get to the Division Lobby before the doors are closed. Members make their way to the Chamber, where Whips are on hand to remind the uncertain which way, if any, their party is voting. Meanwhile the Clerks who will take the names of those voting have taken their place at the high tables with the alphabetical lists of MPs' names on which ticks are made to record the vote. When the tellers are ready the counting process begins - the recording of names by the Clerk and the counting of heads by the tellers. When both lobbies have been counted and the figures entered on a card this is given to the Speaker who reads the figures and announces "So the Ayes [or Noes] have it". In the House of Lords the process is the same except that the Lobbies are called the Contents Lobby and the Not Contents Lobby. Unlike many other legislatures, the House of Commons and the House of Lords have not adopted a mechanical or electronic means of voting. This was considered in 1998 but rejected. Divisions rarely take less than ten minutes and those where most Members are voting usually take about fifteen. Further information can be obtained from factsheet P9 at the UK Parliament site.
As a bill passes through Parliament, MPs and peers may suggest amendments - or changes - which they believe will improve the quality of the legislation.
Many hundreds of amendments are proposed by members to major bills as they pass through committee stage, report stage and third reading in both Houses of Parliament.
In the end only a handful of amendments will be incorporated into any bill.
The Speaker - or the chairman in the case of standing committees - has the power to select which amendments should be debated.
