Welfare Bill: Which MPs from our region defied Labour's orders and voted against cuts to welfare?

Credit: PA Wire

Interim Labour leader Harriet Harman suffered an embarrassing snub in the Commons when nearly 50 of the party's MPs defied her orders to abstain over the Government's Welfare Bill.

Rebel leader Helen Goodman, MP for Bishop Auckland, who warned the Bill was "obnoxious", led the charge as 48 Labour MPs voted against sending the Government's Welfare Bill to a second reading.

The Bill - which contains £12 billion of proposed cuts - plans to cut tax credits, reduce the welfare cap and introduce a "national living wage".

Eight Labour MPs from our region voted against the Bill:

  • David Anderson, Blaydon

  • Mary Glindon, North Tyneside

  • Helen Goodman, Bishop Auckland

  • Ian Lavery, Wansbeck

  • Andy McDonald, Middlesbrough

  • Rachael Maskell, York Central

  • Ian Mearns, Gateshead

  • Iain Wright, Hartlepool

Eight Conservative MPs voted in favour of the Bill:

  • Anne-Marie Trevelyan, Berwick-upon-Tweed

  • James Wharton, Stockton South

  • Guy Opperman, Hexham

  • Rishi Sunak, Richmond (Yorks)

  • Andrew Jones, Harrogate and Knaresborough

  • Robert Goodwill, Scarborough and Whitby

  • Julian Smith, Skipton and Ripon

  • Julian Sturdy, York Outer

On the main second reading vote, the Conservatives won 308 to 124, with a majority of 184 votes.