APPG fails in bid to annul the Uprating Regulations

March 24, 2016 Frozen Pensions 1 Comment

The All-Party Parliamentary Group for Frozen British Pensions has regrettably failed in its attempt to secure a vote on the government’s Social Security Benefit Uprating Regulations 2016,  which now look set to freeze overseas State Pensions for another year.

The Social Security Benefit Up-Rating Regulations is the Statutory Instrument (secondary legislation) that the government uses to exclude some overseas pensioners from receiving the up-rating granted to all State Pensioners by the previously approved Social Security Benefit Uprating Order.

Unlike the Order, the Up-Rating Regulations are subject to negative parliamentary procedure, meaning that rather than requiring positive approval by MPs, they come into force unless actively challenged and annulled.

It is however notoriously hard for parliamentarians to challenge S.I.’s of this kind, given the lack of parliamentary time made available for such debates. In fact the last time an S.I. subject to negative procedure was defeated was in 1979. The APPG was however determined to give it a go.

APPG Vice Chair, Ian Blackford MP, led the APPG’s attempts to secure parliamentary time for a debate, tabling a Prayer against (Motion to Annul) the Uprating Regulations and petitioning the Speaker for an Emergency Debate.

Blackford’s Motion to Annul (tabled as EDM 1235) received the backing of 93 MPs, from 8 political parties (5 Conservative, 16 Labour, 54 SNP, 7 DUP, 3 Plaid Cymru, 2 SDLP, 2 UUP, 1 Green and 3 Independent).  The full list of MP signatories is below. On 24 March EDM 1235 was the 16^th most signed EDM of the 2015/16 session (out of 1344 motions tabled at the time).

A public 38 Degrees petition calling for the Uprating Regulations to be withdrawn also received nearly three thousand signatures from UK voters within days of being launched.

However, on  23 March 2016 the Speaker decided not to allow time for the debate, and parliament has since risen for recess, returning only after the Uprating Regulations come into force (11 April 2016).

The APPG would like to thank all MPs who supported this initiative. We will now seek to work to repeal the Up-Rating Regulations, by other means, when parliament returns and will also continue our ongoing dialogue with the government, making a positive case for partial up-rating.

 

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Full list of MPs who supported Ian Blackford’s Motion to Annul the Uprating Regulations

Davies, Philip	Conservative Party	Shipley
Davis, David	Conservative Party	Haltemprice and Howden
Chope, Christopher	Conservative Party	Christchurch
Gale, Roger	Conservative Party	North Thanet
Bottomley, Peter	Conservative Party	Worthing West
Wilson, Sammy	Democratic Unionist Party	East Antrim
Shannon, Jim	Democratic Unionist Party	Strangford
Campbell, Gregory	Democratic Unionist Party	Londonderry East
Dodds, Nigel	Democratic Unionist Party	Belfast North
Donaldson, Jeffrey	Democratic Unionist Party	Lagan Valley
Paisley, Ian Jnr	Democratic Unionist Party	North Antrim
Robinson, Gavin	Democratic Unionist Party	Belfast East
Lucas, Caroline	Green Party	Brighton Pavilion
McGarry, Natalie	INDEPENDENT	Glasgow East
Hermon, Lady	INDEPENDENT	North Down
Thomson, Michelle	INDEPENDENT	Edinburgh West
Godsiff, Roger	Labour Party	Birmingham Hall Green
Cadbury, Ruth	Labour Party	Brentford and Isleworth
Harris, Carolyn	Labour Party	Swansea East
Cooper, Rosie	Labour Party	West Lancashire
Hoey, Kate	Labour Party	Vauxhall
Howarth, George	Labour Party	Knowsley
Skinner, Dennis	Labour Party	Bolsover
Cunningham, Jim	Labour Party	Coventry South
Hopkins, Kelvin	Labour Party	Luton North
Meale, Alan	Labour Party	Mansfield
Mearns, Ian	Labour Party	Gateshead
Flynn, Paul	Labour Party	Newport West
Phillips, Jess	Labour Party	Birmingham Yardley
Campbell, Ronnie	Labour Party	Blyth Valley
Glindon, Mary	Labour Party	North Tyneside
Vaz, Keith	Labour Party	Leicester East
Saville Roberts, Liz	Plaid Cymru	Dwyfor Meirionnydd
Williams, Hywel	Plaid Cymru	Arfon
Edwards, Jonathan	Plaid Cymru	Carmarthen East and Dinefwr
Gethins, Stephen	Scottish National Party	North East Fife
Gibson, Patricia	Scottish National Party	North Ayrshire and Arran
Blackman, Kirsty	Scottish National Party	Aberdeen North
Boswell, Phil	Scottish National Party	Coatbridge Chryston and Bellshill
Grady, Patrick	Scottish National Party	Glasgow North
Grant, Peter	Scottish National Party	Glenrothes
Gray, Neil	Scottish National Party	Airdrie and Shotts
Cowan, Ronnie	Scottish National Party	Inverclyde
Hendry, Drew	Scottish National Party	Inverness Nairn Badenoch and Strathspey
Crawley, Angela	Scottish National Party	Lanark and Hamilton East
Ahmed-Sheikh, Tasmina	Scottish National Party	Ochil and South Perthshire
Arkless, Richard	Scottish National Party	Dumfries and Galloway
Hosie, Stewart	Scottish National Party	Dundee East
Brock, Deidre	Scottish National Party	Edinburgh North and Leith
Kerevan, George	Scottish National Party	East Lothian
Kerr, Calum	Scottish National Party	Berwickshire Roxburgh and Selkirk
Brown, Alan	Scottish National Party	Kilmarnock and Loudoun
Law, Chris	Scottish National Party	Dundee West
Day, Martyn	Scottish National Party	Linlithgow and East Falkirk
MacNeil, Angus	Scottish National Party	Na h-Eileanan an Iar
McCaig, Callum	Scottish National Party	Aberdeen South
McDonald, Stewart	Scottish National Party	Glasgow South
McDonald, Stuart	Scottish National Party	Cumbernauld Kilsyth and Kirkintilloch East
Docherty, Martin	Scottish National Party	West Dunbartonshire
McLaughlin, Anne	Scottish National Party	Glasgow North East
McNally, John	Scottish National Party	Falkirk
Bardell, Hannah	Scottish National Party	Livingston
Cameron, Lisa	Scottish National Party	East Kilbride Strathaven and Lesmahagow
Monaghan, Carol	Scottish National Party	Glasgow North West
Monaghan, Paul	Scottish National Party	Caithness Sutherland and Easter Ross
Mullin, Roger	Scottish National Party	Kirkcaldy and Cowdenbeath
Newlands, Gavin	Scottish National Party	Paisley and Renfrewshire North
Nicolson, John	Scottish National Party	East Dunbartonshire
O’Hara, Brendan	Scottish National Party	Argyll and Bute
Oswald, Kirsten	Scottish National Party	East Renfrewshire
Donaldson, Stuart	Scottish National Party	West Aberdeenshire and Kincardine
Paterson, Steven	Scottish National Party	Stirling
Black, Mhairi	Scottish National Party	Paisley and Renfrewshire South
Whitford, Philippa	Scottish National Party	Central Ayrshire
Robertson, Angus	Scottish National Party	Moray
Blackford, Ian	Scottish National Party	Ross Skye and Lochaber
Salmond, Alex	Scottish National Party	Gordon
Wilson, Corri	Scottish National Party	Ayr Carrick and Cumnock
Fellows, Marion	Scottish National Party	Motherwell and Wishaw
Sheppard, Tommy	Scottish National Party	Edinburgh East
Ferrier, Margaret	Scottish National Party	Rutherglen and Hamilton West
Stephens, Christopher	Scottish National Party	Glasgow South West
Thewliss, Alison	Scottish National Party	Glasgow Central
Thompson, Owen	Scottish National Party	Midlothian
Chapman, Douglas	Scottish National Party	Dunfermline and West Fife
Cherry, Joanna	Scottish National Party	Edinburgh South West
Weir, Mike	Scottish National Party	Angus
Whiteford, Eilidh	Scottish National Party	Banff and Buchan
Wishart, Pete	Scottish National Party	Perth and North Perthshire
Ritchie, Margaret	Social Democratic and Labour Party	South Down
Durkan, Mark	Social Democratic and Labour Party	Foyle
Kinahan, Danny	Ulster Unionist Party	South Antrim
Elliott, Tom	Ulster Unionist Party	Fermanagh and South Tyrone