Mr Peter Atkinson | ProjectParly

Parliamentary History

Conservative

Hexham

9 Apr 1992 – 6 May 2010 (18 yrs)

Ideology spectrum

82.0

ProgressiveCentreConservative

Conservative — based on 11 coded votes across 1 axes (1% coverage).

Policy axis scores

0 = progressive, 50 = centre, 100 = conservative. Based on coded division votes.

Climate / energy 82

Medium confidence 11 votes

Voting trends (most recent 12 months of activity)

Voting record

February 2010 11 votes

Division	Date	Vote
Will the Minister give way? If the hon. Gentleman will forgive me, I have a maximum of three minutes left, and rather than reopen the debate, I would like to reply to it. The hon. Member for Chichester was completely wrong when he suggested that the PBR is a make-believe document-that is a travesty of all the hard work done by many civil servants to produce it. He will be aware that its growth for...	10 Feb 2010	AYE
Question accordingly negatived. Question put, That the clause be added to the Bill.	9 Feb 2010	NO
Question accordingly agreed to. Clause read a Second time.	9 Feb 2010	NO
There are strong, principled arguments on all sides of this debate, and we have heard them from both sides of the Chamber this evening. The Government have made it clear that our objective is to enhance the legitimacy of the system, and I was glad that, in a good speech, the hon. Member for Cambridge (David Howarth) said exactly that. Others may seek different ends from their electoral system, but...	9 Feb 2010	NO
May I just point out a mathematical fact to the Secretary of State? The leader of the Conservative party was not elected by the alternative vote, because there were only two candidates. That does not stop it being an alternative. To revert to my point, no Opposition Member can tell me the system for the election of hereditary peers, which they defended. The answer is that it is the alternative vot...	9 Feb 2010	NO
Bill read a Second time; to stand committed to a Committee of the whole House (Order, this day). Considered in Committee (Order, this day). I beg to move amendment 1, page 1, line 3, leave out ' 31 December 2010 'and insert ' 31 March 2010 '. With this we may take amendment 2, line 2, leave out ' 31 December ' and insert ' 31 July '. We have pursued that line through introducing amendment 1, as we...	8 Feb 2010	AYE
"In my opinion the rule of law requires that the actions of the Treasury in this context be subjected to judicial scrutiny." That is a powerful judgment that fatally undermines the Government's case that no other legislation will enable them to safeguard the national interest. They simply choose not to use what is already in place. Is my hon. Friend effectively saying that, when faced with the inc...	8 Feb 2010	AYE
Infrastructure Planning	3 Feb 2010	NO
For example, Yemen needs help to develop an effective system of verification. Owing to a lack of helicopters, Yemeni security forces must rely on reports of nearby tribal leaders to confirm those dead or wounded after attacks on terrorist hideouts in the mountains. It is important that if al-Qaeda leaders are killed or prevented from engaging in action, that is independently verified. We also need...	3 Feb 2010	AYE
Progress reported ; Committee to sit again tomorrow. On a point of order, Mr. Deputy Speaker. May I ask how Hansard will record the last five minutes? I imagine that Hansard will treat the last five minutes as an informal suspension. I am sorry to say that those events occurred in Committee, and I am not able to comment on what happened during the Committee stage. Further to that point of order, M...	1 Feb 2010	NO
(a) amounts required by virtue of the Act to be paid out of the Consolidated Fund in respect of transfer values paid into the Consolidated Fund, (b) interest required by virtue of the Act to be paid on those amounts, and (c) any increase attributable to the Act in the sums payable out of the Consolidated Fund by virtue of any other Act. I am happy to support the motion. Question put and agreed to.	1 Feb 2010	NO

January 2010 19 votes

Division	Date	Vote
From what I have read of that group, my hon. Friend's remarks are very worrying. The hon. Member for Wyre Forest (Dr. Taylor) spoke of the 111 system, which will be excellent. I am pleased to see that the pilots may be ready as early as May or June. He made a point about the BMA involving GPs in commissioning, but I would go further and look for more nursing staff to be involved in the commissioni...	27 Jan 2010	AYE
To find the right response to the challenges that exist, including the demographic challenges, we must start with the right attitude. We must open our arms to an ageing society, not wring our hands. We need to be positive about how we can help older people not simply to get by, but to flourish and live full lives in times of both health and illness. Today, we have debated the dementia strategy-a n...	27 Jan 2010	AYE
Question accordingly negatived. Question proposed, That the clause stand part of the Bill.	26 Jan 2010	NO
Well, I have much greater faith in the British voter than any of the Conservative Members present. Can the Minister not see that, when it comes to many other aspects of this place, and in other fields, a period of time is provided for, in respect of the so-called revolving door? We do not want the Door to the Chamber to become a revolving door. I beg to ask leave to withdraw the amendment. Amendme...	26 Jan 2010	AYE
If the hon. Gentleman looks at his history books, I think that he will find that there was not a consensus about the NHS-very far from it. The Conservative party did not support it at the time, but I shall not take that historical analysis any further. If the manifesto commitments were expressed in those terms, I think that the other place would recognise that the will of the people had spoken. Sa...	26 Jan 2010	AYE
I am grateful to my hon. Friend for giving way on that basis. He always dances elegantly between reason and common sense-indeed, he gave a nod in the direction of conservatism, for which I suppose we must be grateful-but I wonder where, in his attack on hereditary power, he sees the monarchy. I did not know that he was a republican and I am rather surprised to hear that he is. If he is indeed a re...	26 Jan 2010	NO
I feel sure that the right hon. Gentleman has a different, unrelated point of order. Yes, Mr. Speaker, it is a wider point of order. The problem is that many Members of the House find the process extremely difficult to accept in any case. It would be helpful if the Government recognised that an explanation is owed to the whole House on matters of this kind. I am very grateful to the right hon. Gen...	26 Jan 2010	NO
I will give way to the hon. Gentleman, but I am conscious of the time. I will be very brief. There was a most welcome written statement today from the Ministry of Justice and the Department for Children, Schools and Families about the family justice review. Would that review be able to consider the important concern that has been raised by the hon. Gentleman? I will have to think about whether it ...	20 Jan 2010	NO
There is a credibility gap that needs to be filled. That is an excellent idea. Could it not be taken further to improve Parliament itself by having that operation within Parliament-a bit like with the budget office in Congress? That is a helpful contribution. I am sure that you, Mr. Deputy Speaker, would not want me to be overly diverted on to the governance of such an office of budget responsibil...	20 Jan 2010	NO
Question accordingly agreed to . Clause 1 ordered to stand part of the Bill.	20 Jan 2010	AYE
that is, of fixed targets- "makes it difficult for fiscal policy to respond appropriately to the inevitable volatility of economic circumstances." That reflects precisely my argument about the inability to use either the automatic stabilisers, which would be ludicrous, or, more significantly, an additional fiscal stimulus, should the economy deteriorate and the situation worsen to the point at whi...	20 Jan 2010	NO
I think that it was Francis Bacon who talked about dreams and predictions being subjects only for a chat by the fireside, so I do not want to get into the differences between the two. What I do want to say is that forecasting is not an exact science; it is particularly prone to error when there are major global shocks, as we have seen over the past couple of years, so it is not surprising that the...	20 Jan 2010	AYE
My hon. Friend is the exception to the rule, because she has not yet made an intervention, so I am happy to give way to her. My hon. Friend must accept that many of us feel that this approach is simply far too radical a response in cutting the deficit; cuts of about 16 or 17 per cent. on essential services-that is what the Financial Times has reported-will have a massive impact on the British peop...	20 Jan 2010	AYE
Division 53	20 Jan 2010	NO
If the proposal became law under a Tory Government, that Government would be wholly in hock to their anaphylactically Eurosceptic tendency, with internal rows about what did or did not require a referendum. I can just hear the hon. Members for Stone and for Shipley (Philip Davies) condemning their Government for not holding a referendum on the slightest treaty that comes around. Even if I did supp...	19 Jan 2010	AYE
They would have to ask for it. That raises an obvious question. Why do the Government think that this particular provision is at all desirable or necessary? Can the Minister identify any matter on which the Government may currently be defeated which they cannot bring back before the House at their discretion? No. The hon. and learned Gentleman makes a good point. As for my saying that it did not m...	19 Jan 2010	AYE
"taking these first steps towards its stated objective of making Government more accountable to Parliament." Even when the Committee looked at the Bill, it believed it was getting something that we are not getting even in the debating of the Bill. The Committee indicated that "the Government's approach to constitutional modernisation has been a rebalancing of power". Those were the promises that w...	19 Jan 2010	NO
Those are the very issues that we are looking at. I will table amendments on the issue for consideration in Committee, by which stage we will have further clarity on the points that the hon. Gentleman made. His contribution was important, and I know that my right hon. Friend has also been supportive on the matter. The second notable aspect of the debate was the fact that, for the first time in my ...	18 Jan 2010	NO
Question accordingly negatived. Question put forthwith ( Standing Order No. 31(2) ), That the proposed words be there added.	13 Jan 2010	NO

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