Whenever there is a high-profile free vote – like that over assisted dying – you will see claims that it cuts across party lines: that the issues involved are “non-party”, “cross-party”, or “not issues of party politics”. This is all partly true, although it also reflects an anti-party sentiment that has long existed.
At the beginning of the 20th century, writer Sidney Low noted that the easiest way to get a round of applause at a public meeting was to claim that something was non-partisan. “No sentiment”, he said, “is likely to elicit more applause at a public meeting, than the sentiment that: ‘This, Mr Chairman, is not a party question, and I do not propose to treat it from a party standpoint’”. Not much has changed since, except that we now have fewer public meetings.
That these issues split the parties is obvious. This is in large part why they are free votes. It is a lot easier to allow MPs to vote as they like rather than trying to impose a whip. Free votes are often more an acceptance of reality rather than some grand constitutional principle.
