Victims and Courts Bill Report Stage: New Clause 7
165
Ayes
—
323
Noes
Defeated · Government won
161 did not vote
Analysis
Commons
Commons
**What happened:** The House of Commons voted on New Clause 7 to the Victims and Courts Bill at Report Stage on 27 October 2025. The clause was defeated by 323 votes to 165. The Bill itself covers a wide range of reforms to how victims are treated within the criminal justice system, including measures on parental responsibility for convicted rapists, non-disclosure agreements, attendance at sentencing hearings, and support services for survivors of domestic abuse and child sexual abuse. **Why it matters:** The Victims and Courts Bill is a substantial piece of legislation aimed at reshaping how the justice system engages with victims and survivors. Measures progressing through the Bill include restricting parental responsibility for those convicted of rape where the child was conceived as a result of that crime, voiding non-disclosure agreements that prevent victims from speaking out, and compelling convicted offenders to attend their sentencing hearings. New Clause 7, which was defeated, proposed additions that opposition and crossbench Members supported but which the Government resisted, arguing the existing Bill already addressed the relevant concerns or that statutory changes were not the appropriate mechanism. **The politics:** The vote split almost entirely along government and opposition lines. All 319 Labour and Labour and Co-operative Party members who voted backed the No lobby, while Conservatives, Liberal Democrats, and the smaller parties including Plaid Cymru, Reform UK, the Democratic Unionist Party, the Green Party, and the Ulster Unionist Party voted in favour of the clause. Seven independents also backed it. There were no Conservative or Liberal Democrat No votes and no Labour Aye votes, making this a clean government-versus-opposition division. The broader debate was notably collaborative in tone, with Members across parties praising individual contributions, particularly that of the Member for Bolsover regarding the parental responsibility provisions.
Voting Aye meant
Support broadening the Criminal Injuries Compensation Scheme so more child sexual abuse survivors, including victims of online abuse and those with convictions connected to their own exploitation, can access compensation
Voting No meant
Oppose this specific amendment, likely preferring the government's own provisions in the Bill rather than the opposition's proposed changes to the compensation scheme
488 voting MPs. Each dot is one vote; left-to-right by party. Grey dots in the centre are the 161 who did not vote.
Aye
No
Absent
Labour PartyWhipped No
0
283
79
Conservative and Unionist PartyWhipped Aye
81
0
35
Liberal DemocratsWhipped Aye
63
0
9
Labour and Co-operative PartyWhipped No
0
36
6
Independent
7
2
4
Scottish National Party
0
0
9
Reform UKWhipped Aye
4
0
4
Sinn Féin
0
0
7
Democratic Unionist PartyWhipped Aye
3
0
2
Green Party of England and WalesWhipped Aye
3
0
1
Plaid CymruWhipped Aye
4
0
—
Social Democratic and Labour Party
0
0
2
Alliance Party of Northern Ireland
0
0
1
Speaker
0
0
1
Traditional Unionist Voice
0
1
—
Ulster Unionist Party
1
0
—
Your Party
0
0
1
Bill delivers real, tangible victim protection measures including restricting parental responsibility for rapists, voiding NDAs that silence victims, and improving court processes; opposes widening some provisions (e.g. removing sentencing threshold) to avoid overwhelming family courts and to test the approach carefully before expansion.Labour · Voted no · Read full speech (9,106 words) →
Welcomes the Bill's victim-centred approach but identifies gaps: victim contact scheme should extend to offenders serving less than 12 months, all victims need free court transcripts, government should make statements on victim reviews within two weeks, and local authorities must prepare victim support strategies to prevent postcode lotteries.Liberal Democrat · Voted aye · Read full speech (1,628 words) →
New clause 2 should require courts to identify children affected by parental imprisonment at sentencing; existing statutory guidance is non-binding and children remain unsupported; 190,000 children affected annually but no clear timeline for government delivery on manifesto commitment.Labour · Voted no · Read full speech (1,891 words) →
New clause 12 essential to end anomaly where families of murder victims killed abroad receive no structured statutory support while domestic victims do; bereaved families navigate foreign legal systems alone and deserve same baseline victim code protections as domestic cases.Labour · Voted aye · Read full speech (1,449 words) →
Government new clause 14 corrects historic injustice by preventing rapists from exercising parental responsibility over children conceived through rape; law change validates survivor testimony and uses law to protect women and children.Labour · Voted no · Read full speech (134 words) →
Amendment on parental responsibility corrects injustice where children are protected from convicted sex offenders but their own children are not; government taking steps to protect both children and parents from vile sex offenders.Labour · Voted no · Read full speech (122 words) →
Victim impact statements currently too restrictive; Violet-Grace Youens' parents felt silenced by court limitations on what could be said; victim statements are important for victims to be heard and acknowledged.Labour · Voted no · Read full speech (82 words) →
Bill's domestic abuse support welcome but incomplete without concrete measures improving court capacity; victims arriving for trial only to have case pulled due to lack of capacity demonstrates systemic failure that legislation alone cannot fix.Liberal Democrat · Voted aye · Read full speech (137 words) →
Sources
Division dataUK Parliament Votes API
DebateHansard · Commons
Stance analysisAI analysis · Claude 4.x
LicenceOpen Parliament Licence v3.0