Peterborough MP Fiona Onasanya fails to vote on government no confidence vote

The vote tabled by Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn was defeated by 325 votes to 306.

A General Election would almost certainly have ended Ms Onasanya’s time in Parliament after being expelled by the Labour Party as she would have had to have stood as an independent.

She is currently due to be sentenced at the Old Bailey on January 29 for perverting the course of justice after a jury unanimously found her guilty of lying about who was behind the wheel of her Nissan Micra when it was caught speeding in Thorney in July 2017.

She would lose her seat anyway if she receives a custodial sentence of a year or more (including if it is suspended). Any custodial or suspended sentence of less than a year which is not appealed would automatically trigger a recall petition.

If 10 per cent of her constituents signed it within six weeks, Ms Onasanya would lose her seat and a by-election would be triggered, which she could stand in.

The independent MP has missed several votes since her conviction without explanation, but returned to Parliament yesterday to vote against the EU Withdrawal Agreement.

Conservative North West Cambridgeshire MP Shailesh Vara also voted against the Brexit deal but has supported the Government in the no confidence vote.

Fellow Tories Steve Barclay (North East Cambridgeshire), Nick Boles (Grantham and Stamford), Jonathan Djanogly (Huntingdon), John Hayes (South Holland and the Deepings) and Tom Pursglove (East Northamptonshire) also voted against the no confidence motion.

Theresa May was backed by previously rebellious Tories and the DUP – both of which had voted against her during her historic Brexit deal defeat the evening before.

Mr Corbyn had urged MPs to back him in his attempts to bring down the Government, arguing in an opening speech that Mrs May had lost the ability to govern and exposed the country to “national embarrassment”.

The Government had lost the vote on the withdrawal agreement by 230 votes.

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