Labour casts doubt on Tory chairman's claim he broke pairing agreement at crunch Brexit votes by 'mistake'
3 min read
Labour has suggested Tory chairman Brandon Lewis lied when he claimed to have mistakenly taken part in key votes despite agreeing to step aside for an MP on maternity leave.
Brandon Lewis sparked outrage on Tuesday when he voted on two knife edge-divisions on Brexit legislation, despite Lib Dem Jo Swinson, who has just had a baby, being assured he would not do so.
The longstanding parliamentary convention allows MPs who are on maternity leave, ill or out of the country to be "paired off" with an opposing colleague so as to cancel out their vote.
Mr Lewis later defended his votes - on the European medicines regulatory network, which the Government lost, and then on a bid from Tory rebels to keep Britain in an EU customs union, which ministers saw off by just six votes - as an “honest mistake”.
However Labour today said it is “hard to credit the explanation that's been given” and called for an investigation.
A spokesman for Jeremy Corbyn said: "We want a full explanation of what took place given the fact that he only seems to have been unaware about the pairing for the two closest votes. It seems hard to take the existing explanation at face value."
Government Chief Whip Julian Smith echoed Mr Lewis's reasoning on Twitter last night, however Ms Swinson dismissed the explanation and said the incident was a “calculated, deliberate breaking of trust”.
Voting records show that Mr Lewis walked through the division lobbies twice, in spite of the reassurances from Commons Leader Andrea Leadsom that he would not do so, but did not take part in a host of other less contentious votes.
Labour's call came as Ms Leadsom was this afternoon forced to apologise for the blunder after an urgent question was tabled by Lib Dem Alistair Carmichael.
The Leader of the House said: “I’m really sorry there was an error made yesterday, but I have been reassured that there remains a guaranteed pair for MPs who are currently pregnant or have a new baby…
“We have investigated yesterday’s result in the light of the broken pair to see whether the result should be changed.
“As it would not materially change the result of the vision we will not look to take further action on this occasion however I sincerely hope that the House can accept the apologies that have been offered.”
Theresa May also expressed her regret over the incident, saying it “wasn’t good enough” and “will not be repeated”, but insisted the Government takes pairing “very seriously”.
Her intervention at Prime Minister’s Questions came after Labour’s Harriet Harman called for ministers to bring forward plans to allow proxy voting for absent members.
Mrs May responded: “We are looking very carefully at that issue. We want to ensure that we can facilitate parental leave in this place. But we also obviously have to ensure there’s a proper consultation.
“And we’re looking at the interests of individuals but also at the interests of the whole house."
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