Crime and Policing Bill: Government motion in relation to LA439

Parliament voted on 22 April 2026 to reject Lords amendments 439E and 439F to the Crime and Policing Bill, instead insisting on its own amendments 439C and 439D. The motion passed by 253 votes to 143. This was the latest stage in an extended back-and-forth between the Commons and the Lords, known as parliamentary ping-pong, over provisions in the Bill relating to the proscription of groups linked to Iranian armed forces, including the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), as well as separate matters concerning fixed penalty notices for antisocial behaviour. The practical effect of the vote is that the Commons has again blocked a Lords requirement that the Home Secretary formally review whether to proscribe the IRGC and affiliated organisations. Proscription under UK terrorism law would make membership or support of the group a criminal offence and would trigger further asset-freezing and border-control powers. By rejecting the Lords amendments on this point, the government maintains that decisions about proscription remain a matter of executive discretion rather than statutory compulsion, while retaining existing sanctions against over 550 IRGC-linked individuals and organisations. On the separate matter of fixed penalty notices for antisocial behaviour enforcement, the Liberal Democrats indicated they would not force a vote on that element, meaning the government's position on proportionality guidance rather than primary legislation was not directly tested in this division. The vote divided almost entirely along government-versus-opposition lines. All 251 Labour and Labour and Co-operative MPs who participated voted Aye, with no Labour defections. The Conservatives contributed 85 of the 143 No votes, and the Liberal Democrats added 53. The Greens and one DUP member also voted No. One independent voted with the government and one SDLP member also voted Aye. The division is the latest in a sequence of clashes between the two chambers on this Bill, with the Commons having already voted to reject the Lords position on the IRGC at least twice previously, including votes on 20 April 2026 where comparable motions passed by margins of around 130 votes. The government's repeated insistence reflects its position that publicly committing to or ruling out proscription would compromise national security decision-making, while the opposition and the Lords have argued that Iran's documented plotting on British soil makes a statutory review obligation both urgent and proportionate.