9 vote margin

The government have won the House of Commons vote on extending the possible detention of terrorist suspects to 42 days by 315 votes to 306. That’s a margin of just 9 votes. No wonder the DUP were in demand today. I didn’t catch what happened to Bill Cash’s amendment. Adds Relating to Bill Cash’s amendment

Veteran former Labour MP Tony Benn said: “I never thought I would be in the House of Commons on the day Magna Carta was repealed”.

And Michael White notes an uncomfortable comparison for Gordon Brown. Update The DUP deny their votes were bought. But as Mick suggests at Brassneck, nevermind the moolah, there are other considerations in play. Namely threats over the devolution of policing and justice powers.


Discover more from Slugger O'Toole

Subscribe to get the latest posts sent to your email.

We are reader supported. Donate to keep Slugger lit!

For over 20 years, Slugger has been an independent place for debate and new ideas. We have published over 40,000 posts and over one and a half million comments on the site. Each month we have over 70,000 readers. All this we have accomplished with only volunteers we have never had any paid staff.

Slugger does not receive any funding, and we respect our readers, so we will never run intrusive ads or sponsored posts. Instead, we are reader-supported. Help us keep Slugger independent by becoming a friend of Slugger. While we run a tight ship and no one gets paid to write, we need money to help us cover our costs.

If you like what we do, we are asking you to consider giving a monthly donation of any amount, or you can give a one-off donation. Any amount is appreciated.