King's Speech Motion for an Address: amendment (o)
104Ayes
317Noes
Defeated · majority 213 · Government won224 did not vote
645 Members · Aye 104 · No 317 · DNV 224 · grey dots in centre are abstentions
Analysis
Commons
Commons
Parliament voted on 20 May 2026 on amendment (o) to the motion for an address in reply to the King's Speech, the formal parliamentary response to the government's statement of its legislative programme. The amendment was defeated by 317 votes to 104. No debate excerpts are available in the record, so the specific policy concern the amendment raised cannot be determined from the available material. The King's Speech sets out the bills a government intends to introduce in the coming parliamentary session, and the motion for an address is Parliament's formal reply. Opposition amendments to that motion are a traditional way for parties outside government to put their objections to the legislative programme on record. A defeat on such an amendment does not change the law but signals where parliamentary opinion lies on elements of the government's agenda. The vote divided almost entirely along party lines. All 273 Labour MPs and all 34 Labour and Co-operative MPs recorded votes against the amendment, while 91 of 116 Conservative MPs voted in favour. Reform UK's six voting members and one Restore Britain MP also backed the amendment, as did five independents. Two independents voted against it, alongside the Green Party's five MPs and two Your Party MPs. No Labour MP voted for the amendment, and no Conservative MP voted against it.
Voting Aye meant
Support amendment (o) to the King's Speech motion, signalling dissatisfaction with the government's stated legislative programme on constitutional or parliamentary accountability grounds
Voting No meant
Reject the opposition amendment and back the government's King's Speech programme as presented, defending its constitutional and parliamentary accountability commitments
Each row is one party. The stacked bar gives the within-party split of Aye / No / Absent; the columns on the right give the raw counts. The party-line column is inferred from how cohesively each party voted, not a published whip: a clear one-way majority of a party’s voters reads as a line, a close division reads as “Split”.
Party
Party line
Aye / No / Abs
Aye
No
Abs
Labour Party
Voted No
0
273
87
Conservative and Unionist Party
Voted Aye
91
0
25
Liberal Democrats
—
0
0
71
Labour and Co-operative Party
Voted No
0
34
8
Independent
—
5
2
6
Reform UK
Voted Aye
6
0
2
Scottish National Party
—
0
0
7
Sinn Féin
—
0
0
7
Democratic Unionist Party
—
1
0
4
Green Party of England and Wales
Voted No
0
5
0
Plaid Cymru
—
0
0
4
Social Democratic and Labour Party
—
0
1
1
Your Party
—
0
2
0
Alliance Party of Northern Ireland
—
0
0
1
Restore Britain
—
1
0
0
Speaker
—
0
0
1
Traditional Unionist Voice
—
1
0
0
Ulster Unionist Party
—
1
0
0
Source · Hansard · UK Parliament Votes API · party line inferred from voting cohesion, not a published whip; “Split” = a close within-party division
The Government must urgently publish the Defence Readiness Bill and Defence Investment Plan, commit to 3% GDP defence spending, and scrap the Northern Ireland Troubles Bill to protect veteran morale and recruitment.Conservative · Voted aye · Read full speech (3,304 words) →
The Government is investing record sums in defence (£270bn this Parliament), has signed over 1,200 defence contracts, and will deliver both the Defence Investment Plan and Defence Readiness Bill later in the Parliament as part of an ambitious reform agenda.Labour · Voted no · Read full speech (2,799 words) →
The Government is moving too slowly on defence; it must publish the Defence Investment Plan and Bill urgently, commit to 3% GDP spending by 2030, and launch defence bonds to mobilise investment at the scale required.Liberal Democrat · Voted no_vote_recorded · Read full speech (1,900 words) →
The Defence Investment Plan delay is damaging domestic industry and UK credibility with NATO allies; the Government must publish it before summer recess and provide a timeline for reaching 3.5% NATO target to allow industry to plan capacity expansion.Labour · Voted no · Read full speech (1,512 words) →
Defence spending has been allowed to fall under successive governments; Britain now faces its greatest threat since the 1930s from totalitarian states (China, Russia, Iran), requiring commitment to 5% GDP spending and urgent publication of the Defence Investment Plan and Defence Readiness Bill.Conservative · Voted aye · Read full speech (2,009 words) →
The Government must invest rapidly in defence, but national strength also depends on rebuilding the social contract for young people through jobs, housing, and opportunity; without addressing economic insecurity and inequality, recruitment and patriotism will suffer.Labour · Voted no · Read full speech (3,386 words) →
The absence of the Defence Investment Plan and Defence Readiness Bill from the King's Speech represents a concerning vacuum in defence planning and industrial strategy at a time of acute threat.Conservative · Voted aye · Read full speech (2,112 words) →
Sources
Division dataUK Parliament Votes API
DebateHansard · Commons
Stance analysisAI analysis · Claude 4.x
LicenceOpen Parliament Licence v3.0