How Parliament voted against Douglas Carswell's attempt to stop the Government giving away shedloads more of your money to the European Empire

Late last night, we were very focused on what happened with the attempt to get a debate on the smoking ban.

There was, however, an even bigger vote that took place in the House of Commons yesterday.

The MP most loved by this blog - Conservative MP Douglas Carswell - had tabled an amendment to the Draft EU Budget 2011.

His amendment called on the Government to: "...leave out from 'the financial year 2011' to end and add 'is concerned at the above-inflation increase being made to Britain's EU budget contribution; believes that, at a time when the Government is poised to make reductions in public spending elsewhere, it is wrong to increase that contribution; and calls on the Government to reduce Britain's EU budget contribution'."

That amendment was defeated with a vote count of Ayes 42, Noes 252.

So, only 42 MPs were brave enough to stand up for UK taxpayers. 252 MPs - by opposing the amendment - in effect approved of us all being ripped off in order to fund the undemocratic European Empire.

In his speech supporting his amendment, Carswell outlined the position as follows:

"All hon. Members face spending cuts in their constituencies-cuts that none of us wanted and cuts made all the more painful by the economic downturn. With the exceptions of health care and overseas aid, every Government Department is looking for budget reductions of between 25 and 40%. At the same time, however, our net contributions to the EU are rising by 60% over the next two years-from £6.4 billion this year to £8.3 billion in 2011-12 and to £10.3 billion in 2015.

Our gross contributions, of course, are higher still. Currently £13.3 billion, they are scheduled to rise to £19 billion. Although it is true that some of that money is spent in the United Kingdom, it is by no means always spent on projects that we ourselves would have chosen to spend it on. In any case, normal practice in politics is to measure what people actually pay rather than to deduct the notional cost of services they receive in return. Would any Member argue that the basic rate of income tax is not 20p in the pound but zero, on the grounds that the entire sum is given back in the form of roads, schools, hospitals and so forth?

The sum of £19 billion is, of course, colossal-enough to give the entire country a 50% rebate on council tax in perpetuity or to pay off our Olympic debt in a single year. The scope of amendment (b), however, is not nearly so ambitious. It would not strike out the entire EU budget-it is not about that-and it would not even strike out the increase in the year-on-year EU budget. All this modest proposal is designed to do is to reject the additional sum that the European Commission demanded over and above the increases already built into the 2011 budget.

At a time when every one of the 27 member state Governments are struggling to find savings, the EU must show some willingness if not to reduce its budget, at the very least to be satisfied by the increases we have already given it. Why has the EU come back on 15 September and asked for more resources? The Commission has been admirably frank that the additional funds are earmarked for three institutions: the European External Action Service, Europol, and the three supervisory agencies that will regulate financial services. I remind Members that the European External Action Service is the EU's diplomatic corps. It already has about 20 times the budget of our Foreign and Commonwealth Office.

Europol is the EU's police agency, and the three new supervisory agencies have been widely denounced as likely to drive revenue away from the City of London to non-EU financial centres.

In other words, we are being asked for this extra money in order to fund three projects that are not in the interests of this country to start with. How much is the bill? To be precise, the EU has awarded itself a €3.6 billion budget increase this year, and Britain's share of that increase-not its share of the budget-is £380 million. The bail-outs and the financial stimuli around the world have, of course, recalibrated our sense of monetary value, but even by today's standards we are talking about significant sums. Given this morning's headlines about the pressure on public sector jobs, it might be helpful to calculate how that £380 million could be translated into Government spending. It would pay for 6,022 NHS doctors, 12,666 NHS nurses, 14,600 police constables, or 22,332 Army privates.

The purpose of the legislature is to control the Executive. In the last analysis, that is why we are all here. The additional work that we do in scrutinising laws, taking up cases for our constituents and participating in debates is valuable, but essentially supplementary. When we strip it down, we see that Parliament exists to ensure that the Government do not spend our money wrong-headedly. That has been the elementary function of our predecessors since the Tudors, if not the Plantagenets."

Sounds like good grounds to stand up and make a stand against increasing the EU budget vastly to me.

So, we give praise to the 42 MPs who thought that the amendment in defence of the UK taxpayer was a sensible move. They were:

AYES

Baker, Steve (Conservative)
Baron, Mr John (Conservative)
Bebb, Guto (Conservative)
Bingham, Andrew (Conservative)
Binley, Mr Brian (Conservative)
Blackman, Bob (Conservative)
Carswell, Mr Douglas (Conservative)
Chope, Mr Christopher (Conservative)
Clappison, Mr James (Conservative)
Cox, Mr Geoffrey (Conservative)
Cryer, John (Labour)
Davidson, Mr Ian (Labour)

Davis, rh Mr David (Conservative)

de Bois, Nick (Conservative)

Dinenage, Caroline (Conservative)

Dodds, rh Mr Nigel (DUP)
Donaldson, rh Mr Jeffrey M. (DUP)

Eustice, George (Conservative)

Goldsmith, Zac (Conservative)

Halfon, Robert (Conservative)

Heaton-Harris, Chris (Conservative)

Henderson, Gordon (Conservative)

Hopkins, Kelvin (Labour)

Latham, Pauline (Conservative)

Lewis, Dr Julian (Conservative)

Main, Mrs Anne (Conservative)

McCartney, Jason (Conservative)

McCartney, Karl (Conservative)

Mosley, Stephen (Conservative)

Nuttall, Mr David (Conservative)

Percy, Andrew (Conservative)

Reckless, Mark (Conservative)

Redwood, rh Mr John (Conservative)

Reevell, Simon (Conservative)

Skinner, Mr Dennis (Labour)

Stephenson, Andrew (Conservative)

Stewart, Bob (Conservative)

Stuart, Ms Gisela (Labour)

Stuart, Mr Graham (Conservative)

Turner, Mr Andrew (Conservative)

Vickers, Martin (Conservative)

Walker, Mr Charles (Conservative)

Tellers for the Ayes:
Mr Peter Bone and
Mr Philip Hollobone

So, let's examine the numbers.

Those supporting the very sensible amendment and therefore attempting to protect the UK taxpayer from the European Empire's cash cow were:

Conservative 35
Labour 5
LibDem 0 (that's right, not one of 'em)
DUP 2

Now you might, reasonably, look favourably upon the Conservatives when seeing these stats. However, let us remember that those 35 MPs make up just 11% of the Parliamentary Conservative Party.

It should additionally be noted that: "the Government accepted an amendment by Tory Bill Cash (Stone), chairman of the Commons European Scrutiny Committee, calling on the Government "to reject European Parliament proposals to increase the budget"."

So, just a long list of idiots to provide.

These are the 252 MPs who decided to oppose and stop Douglas Carswell's very sensible attempt to protect the UK taxpayer from the European Empire.

If any of them talk about budget cuts in your constituency, you might want to tell them to naff off with their hypocrisy...

The 252 who want you to keep on paying through the nose for the undemocratic European Empire are:

NOES
Adams, Nigel
Afriyie, Adam
Aldous, Peter
Andrew, Stuart
Arbuthnot, rh Mr James
Bacon, Mr Richard
Baker, Norman
Baldry, Tony
Baldwin, Harriett
Barclay, Stephen
Barker, Gregory
Barwell, Gavin
Bellingham, Mr Henry
Benyon, Richard
Beresford, Sir Paul
Berry, Jake
Birtwistle, Gordon
Blackwood, Nicola
Boles, Nick
Bottomley, Peter
Bradley, Karen
Brake, Tom
Bray, Angie
Brazier, Mr Julian
Brine, Mr Steve
Brokenshire, James
Brooke, Annette
Browne, Mr Jeremy
Bruce, Fiona
Bruce, rh Malcolm
Buckland, Mr Robert
Burley, Mr Aidan
Burns, Conor
Burns, Mr Simon
Burrowes, Mr David
Burstow, Paul
Burt, Alistair
Burt, Lorely
Cable, rh Vince
Campbell, rh Sir Menzies
Carmichael, Mr Alistair
Carmichael, Neil
Chishti, Rehman
Clarke, rh Mr Kenneth
Clifton-Brown, Geoffrey
Coffey, Dr Thérèse
Collins, Damian
Colvile, Oliver
Crabb, Stephen
Crockart, Mike
Davey, Mr Edward
Davies, David T. C. (Monmouth)
Davies, Glyn
Djanogly, Mr Jonathan
Dorries, Nadine
Duddridge, James
Duncan, rh Mr Alan
Duncan Smith, rh Mr Iain
Dunne, Mr Philip
Ellis, Michael
Ellison, Jane
Ellwood, Mr Tobias
Evans, Graham
Evans, Jonathan
Evennett, Mr David
Fabricant, Michael
Fallon, Michael
Farron, Tim
Foster, Mr Don
Fox, rh Dr Liam
Francois, rh Mr Mark
Freeman, George
Freer, Mike
Fullbrook, Lorraine
Fuller, Richard
Garnier, Mr Edward
Garnier, Mark
Gauke, Mr David
Gibb, Mr Nick
Gilbert, Stephen
Gillan, rh Mrs Cheryl
Glen, John
Goodwill, Mr Robert
Graham, Richard
Grant, Mrs Helen
Green, Damian
Greening, Justine
Grieve, rh Mr Dominic
Griffiths, Andrew
Gummer, Ben
Gyimah, Mr Sam
Hames, Duncan
Hammond, rh Mr Philip
Hammond, Stephen
Hancock, Matthew
Hands, Greg
Harper, Mr Mark
Harrington, Richard
Harris, Rebecca
Hart, Simon
Hayes, Mr John
Heald, Mr Oliver
Heath, Mr David
Hemming, John
Hendry, Charles
Herbert, rh Nick
Hinds, Damian
Hoban, Mr Mark
Hollingbery, George
Holloway, Mr Adam
Hopkins, Kris
Howarth, Mr Gerald
Howell, John
Hughes, Simon
Hunter, Mark
Huppert, Dr Julian
Hurd, Mr Nick
Jackson, Mr Stewart
James, Margot
Johnson, Gareth
Johnson, Joseph
Jones, Andrew
Jones, Mr David
Jones, Mr Marcus
Kawczynski, Daniel
Kirby, Simon
Knight, rh Mr Greg
Laing, Mrs Eleanor
Lamb, Norman
Lansley, rh Mr Andrew
Laws, rh Mr David
Lee, Jessica
Lee, Dr Phillip
Leech, Mr John
Lefroy, Jeremy
Leigh, Mr Edward
Leslie, Charlotte
Letwin, rh Mr Oliver
Lewis, Brandon
Liddell-Grainger, Mr Ian
Lloyd, Stephen
Lopresti, Jack
Lord, Jonathan
Loughton, Tim
Lumley, Karen
MacShane, rh Mr Denis
Maude, rh Mr Francis
May, rh Mrs Theresa
Maynard, Paul
McLoughlin, rh Mr Patrick
McVey, Esther
Menzies, Mark
Mercer, Patrick
Metcalfe, Stephen
Miller, Maria
Mills, Nigel
Milton, Anne
Moore, rh Michael
Mordaunt, Penny
Morgan, Nicky
Morris, Anne Marie
Morris, James
Mowat, David
Mulholland, Greg
Mundell, rh David
Munt, Tessa
Murrison, Dr Andrew
Neill, Robert
Newton, Sarah
Nokes, Caroline
Offord, Mr Matthew
Ollerenshaw, Eric
Opperman, Guy
Ottaway, Richard
Paice, Mr James
Parish, Neil
Paterson, rh Mr Owen
Pawsey, Mark
Penning, Mike
Penrose, John
Perry, Claire
Phillips, Stephen
Pincher, Christopher
Poulter, Dr Daniel
Pritchard, Mark
Pugh, Dr John
Randall, rh Mr John
Rees-Mogg, Jacob
Reid, Mr Alan
Rifkind, rh Sir Malcolm
Robathan, Mr Andrew
Robertson, Hugh
Robertson, Mr Laurence
Rogerson, Dan
Ruffley, Mr David
Russell, Bob
Sanders, Mr Adrian
Sandys, Laura
Scott, Mr Lee
Selous, Andrew
Shapps, rh Grant
Sharma, Alok
Shelbrooke, Alec
Simmonds, Mark
Simpson, Mr Keith
Skidmore, Chris
Smith, Miss Chloe
Smith, Henry
Smith, Julian
Smith, Sir Robert
Soubry, Anna
Stanley, rh Sir John
Stevenson, John
Stewart, Iain
Stewart, Rory
Streeter, Mr Gary
Stride, Mel
Stunell, Andrew
Sturdy, Julian
Swayne, Mr Desmond
Swinson, Jo
Swire, Mr Hugo
Syms, Mr Robert
Teather, Sarah
Thurso, John
Tomlinson, Justin
Tredinnick, David
Truss, Elizabeth
Tyrie, Mr Andrew
Uppal, Paul
Vaizey, Mr Edward
Villiers, rh Mrs Theresa
Walker, Mr Robin
Wallace, Mr Ben
Walter, Mr Robert
Ward, Mr David
Watkinson, Angela
Weatherley, Mike
Webb, Steve
Wharton, James
White, Chris
Wiggin, Bill
Willetts, rh Mr David
Williams, Mr Mark
Williams, Roger
Williams, Stephen
Williamson, Gavin
Willott, Jenny
Wilson, Mr Rob
Wollaston, Dr Sarah
Wright, Simon
Young, rh Sir George

Tellers for the Noes:
Mr Shailesh Vara and
Jeremy Wright