Universal Credit and Personal Independent Payment Bill: Reasoned Amendment at Second Reading

Parliament voted on 1 July 2025 on a Conservative-led reasoned amendment (a procedural motion that would have rejected the Universal Credit and Personal Independence Payment Bill at its second reading, blocking any further consideration) to the government's welfare reform legislation. The amendment was defeated by 328 votes to 149, meaning the bill was allowed to proceed to further parliamentary scrutiny. A reasoned amendment at second reading is a standard opposition tool used to signal outright rejection of a bill's principles before detailed line-by-line examination begins. The vote matters because the bill proposes significant changes to two major benefits: Universal Credit, which supports working-age people on low incomes, and Personal Independence Payments, a benefit designed to help disabled people with the extra costs of living with a health condition or disability. Had the reasoned amendment passed, the bill would have fallen entirely at this early stage. Its defeat means the legislation will continue through Parliament, with its provisions affecting potentially millions of claimants subject to further debate and amendment in committee and beyond. The politics of this vote were unusual in that the Conservative Party found itself joined in the Aye lobby not by other right-leaning parties but by a broad coalition of opposition groups from across the spectrum. The Liberal Democrats voted 70-0 in favour of the amendment, making them the largest single bloc backing it. The Scottish National Party, Plaid Cymru, the Green Party, the Democratic Unionist Party, and most Reform UK members who voted also backed the amendment, as did nine independents and two Labour and Co-operative MPs. Forty-three Labour MPs also voted for the amendment, representing a notable internal rebellion against the government. The government's position prevailed comfortably, but the scale of cross-party opposition from both left and right, combined with the Labour rebels, indicated significant political turbulence around the bill's passage.