Labour’s opposition day motion calling on the government not to drop the £20 uplift in Universal Credit has just passed in the Commons – because the government abstained on the vote. This was expected, but what was more of a surprise was that there was a vote at all: no one was there to oppose the motion, to the extent that the tellers were all Labour MPs, who had all voted for the motion (normally two tellers are from the ayes and two from the noes). So why was there a division at all?
As usual, the Speaker asked for those who supported the motion to say ‘aye’, which they did, and then for those who opposed it to say no’. Strangely, there were shouts of ‘no!’ from MPs who then went on to support the motion. Shortly after the result, Tory William Wragg complained in a point of order that Labour whips had hidden behind their face masks to secretly shout ‘no!’
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