The most worrying thing for Alistair Darling and the Labour whips as they survey the list of MPs who have signed up to Frank Field’s amendment on the 10p tax row is the number of them who are not the “usual suspects” who frequently vote against the Government.

Over the next few days Mr Darling and Gordon Brown will be seeing the Field amendment signatories, knowing that in many cases they are dealing with people who want to be persuaded and would find voting against the Government before the local elections anathema.

The appearance on the Field amendment of the names of some previously considered loyalists is a sign of the seriousness of the problem and of the confidence of ministers that they can dissuade at least some of them from going into the lobbies with the Tories next week. If the whips succeed in knocking those names off the list, however, there are many others who have not yet declared themselves supporters of Mr Field’s amendment: 70 MPs signed a Commons motion criticising the 10p abolition a few weeks ago.

There are also at least a dozen “usual suspects”, mainly members of the Socialist Campaign Group, who have not signed the amendment but would under normal cirumstances be expected to back a proposition specifically aimed at helping the poor.

The nonusual suspects, however, are looking for something that they can promise their voters before the local and mayoral elections next week. They were the ones earnestly trying to persuade Mr Darling behind the closed doors of the Labour backbench Treasury committee yesterday that any changes must come in this financial year, and preferably be backdated to the time of the Budget. Mr Darling assured them that he would act in this financial year but they want more flesh on the bones of his promise.

Number of revolts since 2001
(1,058 votes)

Usual suspects
Frank Field 95, Kate Hoey 201, Jon Trickett 50, Jeremy Corybn 298, David Drew 114, Ian Gibson 94, Andrew Mackinlay 72, John McDonnell 262, Austin Mitchell 58, David Taylor 118, Alan Simpson 197, Jim Dobbin 56, Mark Fisher 156, Geraldine Smith 47, Paul Flynn 73, Peter Kilfoyle 65, Linda Riordan 29 (since 2005), Gordon Prentice 86, Katy Clark 32, (since 2005), Mike Wood 87

Occasional
Gisela Stuart 23, Ann Cryer 38, Chris McCafferty 42, Jon Cruddas 26, Paul Farrelly 20, Roger Godsiff 42

Non-usual suspects
Janet Anderson 13, John Battle 15, Marsha Singh 16, Karen Buck 22, George Howarth 20, David Marshall 27, Greg Pope 15, Betty Williams 29, Michael Connarty 49, Jim Dowd 19, Fabian Hamilton 14

Source: Public Whip (note: the figure gives no indication of the importance of the measures)

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