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The details

On the 13^th July 1999 Edward Leigh MP introduced a Ten Minute Rule Bill to end the ban which stops religious bodies from owning most broadcasting licences. The Bill also would have required the then regulatory bodies (the Independent Television Commission and the Radio Authority) to review their broadcasting codes to eliminate discrimination against religious bodies.

Mr Leigh moved a motion in the following terms:

“That leave be given to bring in a Bill to remove restrictions on the ownership by religious bodies of broadcasting licences and to clarify the role of the Radio Authority and the Independent Television Commission in relation to the religious content of programmes.”¹

The Bill was also sponsored by Mark Fisher (Labour), Donald Anderson (Labour), Frank Cook (Labour), Steve Webb (Lib Dem), Colin Breed (Lib Dem), Jeffrey Donaldson (Ulster Unionist), Revd Martin Smyth (Ulster Unionist), Gary Streeter (Conservative), Laurence Robertson (Conservative), Gerald Howarth (Conservative) and Christopher Chope (Conservative).

The motion to bring in the Bill was passed by 140 votes to 11. However, the Bill, being merely a back-bencher’s Bill, was never expected to become law because sufficient Parliamentary time would not be allocated to it by the Government.

How we recorded the vote

• Voted for allowing greater freedom for religious broadcasting

  MPs who supported the motion to bring in the Bill

• Voted against allowing greater freedom for religious broadcasting

  MPs who opposed the motion to bring in the Bill

• Abstained or was absent on the vote for allowing greater freedom for religious broadcasting

  MPs who did not vote on the motion to bring in the Bill

• Abstained deliberately on the vote for allowing greater freedom for religious broadcasting

  Evan Harris (Oxford West and Abingdon) deliberately voted on both sides in order to register an abstention.

• Used a procedural motion to trigger a vote in support of greater freedom for religious broadcasting

  Desmond Swayne (New Forest West) used parliamentary procedures to ensure that a vote could be held to demonstrate support for the Bill. He was assisted by Tim Loughton (East Worthing and Shoreham).

• ¹House of Commons, Hansard, 13 July 1999, cols. 166-169