Last night was the first of two days of debates and votes for the Nationality and Borders Bill which involves a number of clauses and amendments. Sadly all of the votes that took place were opposed by the Government and endorsed by most of the Tory MPs. Here is the list of the six votes that took place last night and it was tragic that all of them were unsuccessful but the New Clause 52 which was supported by 16 Conservative MPs along with 166 Labour MPs and the SNP and Liberal Democrats and the DUP and Plaid Cymru and several other MPs was lost because the rest of the Tories voted along with the Government. Here is the list of all of the items and an indication of how the votes have gone. Caroline Lucas who is my MP voted for all of these items. As it happens although Caroline Ansell did vote against the last two cases, she did not vote for the first four cases. There were of course some other MPs in the Tory Party that stayed away from a number of the cases. Another of the Sussex MPs is Peter Bottomley and he voted against all of these cases apart from the last one.

• Schedule 6 – Maritime Enforcement 234 for, 307 against. 

This would give effect to the recommendation of the Joint Committee on Human Rights to ensure the maritime enforcement powers cannot be used in a manner that would endanger lives at sea.— (Ms Harman.)

Two Conservatives who endorsed it: Simon Hoare and Caroline Nokes

• Clause 39 – Illegal entry and similar offences 232 for, 316 against. 

Clause 39 as drafted would involve the criminalisation of the arrival and entry of asylum seekers and refugees with an offence subject to up to four years imprisonment. This amendment would prevent this from happening

There were no Conservatives voting for this clause

• New Clause 52 – Non-UK service personnel: waiver of fees 247 for, 289 against. 

‘(1) The Secretary of State must, within six months of the date of Royal Assent to this Act, make regulations exempting relevant persons from the payment of fees in respect of the exercise of functions in connection with immigration or nationality under section 68 of the Immigration Act 2014.

(2) For the purposes of this section, ‘relevant persons’ are persons who—

(a) do not hold British citizenship and are serving or have in the past served in the UK armed forces for a minimum period of five years; or

(b) are dependants of persons identified in paragraph (a).’—(Johnny Mercer.)

Sixteen Conservatives who endorsed it: Rehman Chishti; David Davis; Iain Duncan Smith; Tobias Ellwood; Michael Fabricant; Mark Francois; James Gray; Simon Hoare; Philip Hollobone; Tim Loughton; Stephen McPartland; Johnny Mercer; Anne Marie Morris; Rob Roberts; Tomas Tugendhat and William Wragg

• New Clause 50 – Advertising assistance for unlawful immigration to the United Kingdom 232 for, 313 against. 

There were no Conservatives voting for this clause

• New Clause 8 – Children registering as British citizens: fees 236 for, 323 against.

In respect of children registering as British citizens, this new clause would prevent the Home Office from charging a fee which exceeds the cost of processing the application. It would also abolish such fees altogether for looked-after children until they reach the age of 21 (or 25 if in full-time education), and would require the Government to produce a report setting out the effect of such fees on children’s human rights.

There were no Conservatives voting for this clause

• New Clause 2 – Acquisition by registration: Descendants of those born on British Indian Ocean Territory 245 for, 306 against. 

Eight Conservatives who endorsed it: John Baron, Crispin Blunt, Peter Bone, David Davis, Philip Hollobone, Tim Loughton and Henry Smith