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Labour MP alleges bullying during fracking vote | Labour MP alleges bullying during fracking vote |
(33 minutes later) | |
Labour MP Chris Bryant tweeted a picture he took in the division lobby in the House of Commons | |
A Labour MP has said he saw "members being physically manhandled" during a vote on banning fracking. | A Labour MP has said he saw "members being physically manhandled" during a vote on banning fracking. |
Chris Bryant urged the deputy speaker of the Commons to launch an investigation into the scenes he witnessed. | Chris Bryant urged the deputy speaker of the Commons to launch an investigation into the scenes he witnessed. |
Meanwhile, Tory MPs told the BBC that chief whip Wendy Morton, and the deputy chief whip, are no longer in post. | |
Mr Bryant said MPs should be able to vote "without fear or favour", saying "we want to stand up against bullying". | |
The Labour MP for the Rhondda spoke after a Labour lost a vote on banning fracking despite the threat of a Tory rebellion. | |
Labour attempted to use a vote in Parliament to force the introduction of a law to ban fracking. | |
In a test of support of embattled Prime Minister Liz Truss, the government had ordered Tory MPs to oppose Labour in the vote, or face expulsion from the parliamentary party. | |
Ahead of the vote, three Tory MPs - including former climate minister Chris Skidmore - suggested they could not "vote tonight to support fracking". | Ahead of the vote, three Tory MPs - including former climate minister Chris Skidmore - suggested they could not "vote tonight to support fracking". |
Shadow minister Anna McMorrin wrote on Twitter that she witnessed one Conservative MP "in tears" in the lobby after the fracking vote. | |
Ms McMorrin tweeted: "Extraordinary stuff happening here during the vote on fracking which is apparently 'not a confidence vote'. | |
"I've just witnessed one Tory member in tears being manhandled into the lobby to vote against our motion to continue the ban on fracking." | |
Labour MP Shadow Secretary of State for Scotland, Ian Murray, said he witnessed "whips screaming at Tories" and described it as "open warfare". | |
The vote was the first parliamentary test of the government's fracking plans, but was never likely to be successful given the size of the Conservatives' majority. | |
The government won the fracking vote by 326 votes to 230 - a government majority of 96. | |
The division list on the Parliament's website showed 40 Conservative MPs did not take part in the fracking vote. | |
They cannot all be considered to be abstentions, as some Tory MPs in ministerial roles are likely to have been on government business. |