The topic lensIssue · 22 divisions tagged · 16 parties active
Defence and Foreign Affairs.
Military, national security, and international relations
Divisions tagged
22
This parliament
Parties active
16
≥1 vote tagged
Most on-whip
Alliance Party of Northern Ireland
83% aligned
Recent activity
10
Most-recent divisions
Each row is one party. The bar shows how its MPs voted relative to a neutral midpoint — to the right = on-side with the majority position, to the left = opposed. The percentage figure is the share of that party’s MPs who took the same side: higher = more whip-disciplined, closer to 50% = a freer vote.
| Party | Stance vs neutral midpoint | Net % | Discipline | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Labour Party | Lab | -5 | 45% on-whip · 358 MPs | |
| Conservative and Unionist Party | Con | +9 | 59% on-whip · 113 MPs | |
| Liberal Democrats | LD | +9 | 59% on-whip · 71 MPs | |
| Labour and Co-operative Party | Lab | -4 | 46% on-whip · 42 MPs | |
| Independent | Ind | +5 | 55% on-whip · 14 MPs | |
| Scottish National Party | SNP | +27 | 77% on-whip · 9 MPs | |
| Reform UK | Ref | 0 | 50% on-whip · 8 MPs | |
| Green Party of England and Wales | Grn | +6 | 56% on-whip · 5 MPs |
Source · Hansard · alignment is the share of party MPs who voted with the party majority on tagged divisions
| Date | Motion | Aye | No | Carried |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 24 Mar 2026 | Opposition Day Motion: Defence Aye: Support the Conservative opposition's position on defence, signalling dissatisfaction with the government's approach to defence spending or policy. · No: Reject the Conservative opposition's motion on defence, backing the Labour government's existing approach to defence spending and policy. | 99 | 305 | No |
| 28 Jan 2026 | Opposition Day: British Indian Ocean Territory Aye: Support the opposition's position on the British Indian Ocean Territory, signalling concern or opposition to the government's deal to transfer sovereignty of the Chagos Islands to Mauritius · No: Back the Labour government's approach to the British Indian Ocean Territory negotiations, rejecting the opposition's motion as a political attack on ongoing diplomacy | 105 | 286 | No |
| 20 Jan 2026 | Diego Garcia Military Base and British Indian Ocean Territory Bill: motion to disagree with Lords Amendment 6 Aye: Support rejecting the Lords amendment, accepting that treaty payments should follow normal prerogative practice without requiring separate parliamentary approval for each payment — backing the government's position that existing scrutiny mechanisms are sufficient. · No: Oppose rejecting the Lords amendment, arguing Parliament should retain explicit oversight and approval of future payments under the Chagos treaty, and that greater financial transparency and accountability is warranted given the scale and duration of the commitment. | 346 | 185 | Yes |
| 20 Jan 2026 | Diego Garcia Military Base and British Indian Ocean Territory Bill: motion to disagree with Lords Amendment 1 Aye: Support rejecting the Lords amendment, accepting the treaty as negotiated and trusting existing mechanisms such as the joint commission and international treaty law to handle any future scenario where the base becomes unusable. · No: Back the Lords amendment requiring renegotiation to include an explicit payment-cessation clause if the base can no longer be used for military purposes, arguing this is a necessary financial and strategic safeguard. | 345 | 183 | Yes |
| 20 Jan 2026 | Diego Garcia Military Base and British Indian Ocean Territory Bill: motion to disagree with Lords Amendment 5 Aye: Support rejecting the Lords amendment, accepting that existing published financial disclosures are sufficient and that demanding further transparency requirements is unnecessary · No: Support the Lords amendment, insisting the government must be legally required to publish full real-terms costs and methodology — arguing the current figures mislead taxpayers about the true scale of the deal | 348 | 188 | Yes |
All 22 divisions on this issue →
By party, the MPs whose voting record on defence and foreign affairs is most closely tracking the party majority. A fuller “most active by speech volume + written questions” ranking is pending — needs per-issue speech aggregation.
LabLabour Party
| MP | Constituency | % on-whip |
|---|---|---|
| Alison Taylor | Paisley and Renfrewshire North | 75% |
| Jess Phillips | Birmingham Yardley | 73% |
| Dan Jarvis | Barnsley North | 67% |
ConConservative and Unionist Party
| MP | Constituency | % on-whip |
|---|---|---|
| Peter Fortune | Bromley and Biggin Hill | 73% |
| Christopher Chope | Christchurch | 69% |
| Mark Garnier | Wyre Forest | 67% |
LDLiberal Democrats
| MP | Constituency | % on-whip |
|---|---|---|
| Rachel Gilmour | Tiverton and Minehead | 73% |
| Tessa Munt | Wells and Mendip Hills | 69% |
| Luke Taylor | Sutton and Cheam | 67% |
LabLabour and Co-operative Party
| MP | Constituency | % on-whip |
|---|---|---|
| Oliver Ryan | Burnley | 59% |
| Alex Norris | Nottingham North and Kimberley | 55% |
| Florence Eshalomi | Vauxhall and Camberwell Green | 54% |
IndIndependent
| MP | Constituency | % on-whip |
|---|---|---|
| Ayoub Khan | Birmingham Perry Barr | 75% |
| Shockat Adam | Leicester South | 71% |
| Iqbal Mohamed | Dewsbury and Batley | 64% |
SNPScottish National Party
| MP | Constituency | % on-whip |
|---|---|---|
| Stephen Gethins | Arbroath and Broughty Ferry | 100% |
| Dave Doogan | Angus and Perthshire Glens | 100% |
| Brendan O'Hara | Argyll, Bute and South Lochaber | 75% |
Pending — issue-to-service mapping
Mapping each Westminster issue to the equivalent council service bucket (so “Defence and Foreign Affairs” → the matching service line on council finance, with the ranked-spend table this section wants) is its own taxonomy job. Council service spend lives on the council pages today; cross-cut by issue here in a follow-on pass.
Sources, methods & last update
Issue taggingEach division is tagged to one or more issues by Claude classification, reviewed by topic admins.
VotingHansard division lists · Commons Votes API
AlignmentShare of party MPs voting with the party majority on tagged divisions
CohortThis parliament · 22 divisions