Sentencing Bill: Reasoned Amendment on Second Reading
78
Ayes
—
292
Noes
Defeated · Government won
276 did not vote
Analysis
Commons
Commons
**What happened:** On 16 September 2025, MPs voted on a reasoned amendment (a procedural motion to reject a bill outright at its first major debate) to block the Sentencing Bill from proceeding any further in Parliament. The amendment was defeated by 292 votes to 78, meaning the bill was allowed to continue to the next stage of parliamentary scrutiny. **Why it matters:** The defeat of this amendment cleared the way for the government's Sentencing Bill to advance through Parliament. The bill represents a significant reform of how courts sentence offenders in England and Wales, and blocking it at this stage would have ended the legislation entirely before any detailed examination of its contents. By voting it down, the Commons signalled sufficient support for the bill to at least be examined in detail at committee stage, where amendments can be proposed and debated line by line. **The politics:** The vote divided largely along party lines. All 73 Conservative MPs who voted backed the amendment to block the bill, joined by four Reform UK members and one Democratic Unionist Party MP. Labour, Labour and Co-operative, Green, and independent MPs voted overwhelmingly against the amendment, allowing the bill to proceed. There were no Conservative votes in favour of the bill's progress and no Labour votes to block it, making this a clean government-versus-opposition division. Subsequent divisions on 29 October 2025 show the bill passed its Third Reading by 321 votes to 103, confirming that the government's majority held throughout the bill's Commons passage.
Voting Aye meant
Support blocking the Sentencing Bill from progressing, signalling opposition to the government's proposed sentencing reforms
Voting No meant
Support allowing the Sentencing Bill to proceed to further scrutiny, backing the government's approach to tackling reoffending, prison capacity, and sentencing reform
370 voting MPs. Each dot is one vote; left-to-right by party. Grey dots in the centre are the 276 who did not vote.
Aye
No
Absent
Labour PartyWhipped No
0
251
111
Conservative and Unionist PartyWhipped Aye
73
0
43
Liberal Democrats
0
0
72
Labour and Co-operative PartyWhipped No
0
32
10
Independent
1
7
5
Scottish National Party
0
0
9
Reform UKWhipped Aye
4
0
4
Sinn Féin
0
0
7
Democratic Unionist Party
1
0
4
Green Party of England and WalesWhipped No
0
3
1
Plaid Cymru
0
0
4
Social Democratic and Labour Party
0
0
2
Alliance Party of Northern Ireland
0
0
1
Speaker
0
0
1
Traditional Unionist Voice
0
0
1
Ulster Unionist Party
0
0
1
Your Party
0
1
—
The Bill is essential to prevent prisons running out of space while delivering 'punishment that works' through earned progression incentives, community sentences, tagging, and victim protections, backed by evidence from Texas and the Gauke review.Labour · Voted no · Read full speech (4,787 words) →
The Bill is a 'white flag surrender' that will unleash a crime wave by releasing 43,000 criminals annually, abandoning short sentences for burglars, rapists, and domestic abusers, and removing law enforcement perspectives from parole boards.Conservative · Voted aye · Read full speech (3,992 words) →
The Bill's reforms are necessary and welcome, but implementation faces serious challenges around probation staffing (10,000 shortfall), Serco tagging reliability, and the earned progression model's criteria for rehabilitation versus behaviour management.Labour · Voted no · Read full speech (2,566 words) →
The Bill addresses real problems and includes positive domestic abuse identifier measures, but requires significant changes: domestic abuse must be excluded from short sentence presumptions, the Lord Chancellor's veto over sentencing guidelines threatens judicial independence, and probation must be properly resourced.Liberal Democrat · Voted no_vote_recorded · Read full speech (1,368 words) →
Crime is a malevolent choice requiring retributive justice and punishment, not treatment; the Bill wrongly treats crime as illness and fails to protect victims—dangerous offenders like those guilty of domestic abuse should serve much longer sentences.Conservative · Voted aye · Read full speech (445 words) →
As a former police officer, the Bill delivers necessary reform by building 14,000 prison places, replacing ineffective short sentences with community punishment, and prioritizing victim protection through domestic abuse identifiers and sentencing remarks transparency.Labour · Voted no · Read full speech (954 words) →
The Government wrongly claims credit for HMP Millsike (1,468 places) which was approved and started under the previous Conservative Government in 2021, not by Labour; overall prison building claims are misleading.Conservative · Voted aye · Read full speech (1,592 words) →
Sources
Division dataUK Parliament Votes API
DebateHansard · Commons
Stance analysisAI analysis · Claude 4.x
LicenceOpen Parliament Licence v3.0