Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, how many times the UK, Germany and France voted against proposed EU legislation in the EU Council of Ministers that was approved by a qualified majority in each year from 2010 to 2014.

Under the voting system in place 2010-2014, the UK, France and Germany constituted a blocking minority for decisions taken on the basis of a qualified majority in Council. Consequently, any decision which they voted against could not have been taken forward. Since 1 November 2014, when new Lisbon Treaty provisions came into force, the UK’s relative voting weight as a larger Member State has increased because of the new double majority rules, which require 65% of the EU’s population and 55% of the Member States for a qualified majority.