Universal Credit and Personal Independent Payment Bill Committee: Amendment 39

Parliament voted on 9 July 2025 on Amendment 39 to the Universal Credit and Personal Independence Payment Bill during its committee stage (the detailed line-by-line scrutiny phase of the legislation). The amendment was defeated heavily, with only 35 MPs voting in favour and 469 voting against. It was the most lopsided result among the related votes on this bill that day, suggesting it represented a more radical departure from the bill's existing provisions than other amendments considered in the same session. The amendment concerns welfare reform, specifically changes to Universal Credit and Personal Independence Payment (PIP), which are the main income-replacement and disability-related benefits in the UK. Whatever specific change Amendment 39 proposed, it failed to attract support beyond a small coalition of left-leaning and nationalist parties. The bill itself continues to progress through Parliament, and the defeat of this amendment means the bill proceeds without this particular modification. The politics of this vote reflect a clear left-nationalist fringe versus the rest of Parliament. The 35 Ayes came from nine Labour MPs (voting against their own government), the Scottish National Party's nine MPs, four Plaid Cymru MPs, four Green MPs, two Social Democratic and Labour Party MPs, and seven Independents. Every Conservative, Reform UK, and Democratic Unionist Party member present voted No, as did the overwhelming majority of Labour and Labour and Co-operative MPs, with 358 combined voting against the amendment. The vote illustrates the difficulty faced by parties and MPs seeking more expansive welfare protections in getting traction against a combined government and official-opposition majority.