Pension Schemes Bill: motion to disagree with Lords Amendment 43

**What happened:** On 15 April 2026, MPs voted to reject Lords Amendment 43 to the Pension Schemes Bill, a government motion known as a "motion to disagree." The vote passed by 273 ayes to 159 noes, restoring the government's preferred version of the relevant clause. This was one of several votes on the same day in which the Commons overturned Lords amendments to the Bill; related divisions on amendments 1, 15, 26, 35 and 77 all passed by similar margins on the same occasion. **Why it matters:** The Pension Schemes Bill is designed to improve returns for workplace pension savers, primarily by consolidating a fragmented pensions landscape and encouraging investment in a wider range of assets. By overturning Lords Amendment 43, alongside several other Lords changes, the government preserved its preferred framework for how pension schemes are governed and how investment powers are structured. The central controversy in the Bill concerns a reserve power allowing ministers to direct pension schemes to hold certain qualifying assets, with the government arguing this is capped at 10% of assets overall and 5% in UK-specific assets, in line with its Mansion House commitments. Opponents, including the Conservative opposition and several peers, argued the power was an unacceptable intrusion into decisions that should rest with pension trustees acting solely in the interests of savers. **The politics:** The vote divided almost entirely along party lines. All 269 Labour and Labour and Co-operative MPs who voted supported the government, joined by all four voting Green MPs and one independent. All 86 Conservative MPs who voted, all 59 Liberal Democrats, all 5 SNP members, all 4 Plaid Cymru members and one Reform UK MP voted against. The Conservatives and Liberal Democrats aligned in defending the Lords amendments as necessary safeguards, while the government characterised their concerns as scaremongering. The Bill had previously attracted cross-party support at earlier stages, making the sharp division at this ping-pong stage (the process by which the two Houses exchange amendments until agreement is reached) notable. The government had suffered 12 defeats in the Lords, and the Commons voted to reverse the majority of them on this single day.