Steel Industry (Nationalisation) Bill: Reasoned Amendment to Second Reading
68Ayes
242Noes
Defeated · majority 174 · Government won334 did not vote
644 Members · Aye 68 · No 242 · DNV 334 · grey dots in centre are abstentions
Analysis
Commons
Commons
Parliament voted on 21 May 2026 on a Reasoned Amendment to the Steel Industry (Nationalisation) Bill at its Second Reading. A Reasoned Amendment is a procedural device that formally states objections to a bill and, if passed, blocks it from advancing. The amendment, moved by shadow minister Andrew Griffith, sought to decline the bill a Second Reading on grounds including that politicians should not run businesses, that nationalisation would deter inward investment, that the bill exposed taxpayers to unlimited liabilities, and that the powers granted to ministers were wider than necessary. The amendment was defeated by 242 votes to 68, allowing the bill to proceed to further parliamentary scrutiny. The bill, if enacted, would give the Secretary of State the power to bring steel undertakings into public ownership where a public interest test is met. The immediate application is British Steel, which the government had already moved to protect through the Steel Industry (Special Measures) Act 2025. The bill's passage to Committee stage means the nationalisation of British Steel can proceed, securing the Scunthorpe site and its workforce in the short term. Opponents argued the bill exposes taxpayers to open-ended costs and that tariff measures accompanying the policy risk damaging downstream industries in aerospace, automotive and defence supply chains that rely on imported specialist steel grades not produced domestically. Labour MPs voted unanimously for the bill to proceed, with 211 voting against the amendment and no Labour member supporting it. All 69 Conservative MPs who voted backed the amendment. Reform UK's five voting members sided with the government against the amendment, as did the two Green MPs and two Independent MPs, reflecting a broad pro-nationalisation coalition beyond Labour's own ranks. One Independent MP voted with the Conservatives. The bill sits in a broader context of the government's industrial strategy and follows Parliament being recalled in 2025 to pass emergency legislation to keep British Steel's blast furnaces operational after negotiations with the Chinese owner Jingye broke down.
Voting Aye meant
Support blocking or delaying the Steel Industry (Nationalisation) Bill, opposing state ownership of the steel industry at this stage
Voting No meant
Support allowing the Steel Industry (Nationalisation) Bill to proceed to further parliamentary scrutiny, backing the principle of nationalising the steel industry
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 whip column shows the published party position — “Free vote” means the whip was formally removed for this division.
Party
Whip
Aye / No / Abs
Aye
No
Abs
Labour Party
Whipped No
0
211
149
Conservative and Unionist Party
Whipped Aye
69
0
47
Liberal Democrats
—
0
0
72
Labour and Co-operative Party
Whipped No
0
22
20
Independent
—
1
2
10
Reform UK
Whipped No
0
5
3
Scottish National Party
—
0
0
7
Sinn Féin
—
0
0
7
Democratic Unionist Party
—
0
0
5
Green Party of England and Wales
—
0
2
3
Plaid Cymru
—
0
0
4
Social Democratic and Labour Party
—
0
0
2
Alliance Party of Northern Ireland
—
0
0
1
Restore Britain
—
0
0
1
Speaker
—
0
0
1
Traditional Unionist Voice
—
0
0
1
Ulster Unionist Party
—
0
0
1
Your Party
—
0
1
0
Source · Hansard · UK Parliament Votes API · whip status from announced positions; “free vote” indicates the whip was formally removed
The Bill is necessary pragmatism, not ideology: public ownership of British Steel protects a strategic national asset essential to defence, infrastructure and industrial strategy, and the government has explored all commercial options first.Labour · Voted no · Read full speech (2,916 words) →
Nationalisation is an ideological failure that masks the government's real failures on energy policy and industrial competitiveness; the Conservatives would lower industrial electricity prices instead, which is the only sustainable route to viable steelmaking.Conservative · Voted aye · Read full speech (2,530 words) →
The Bill is justified in a world of weaponised interdependence and strategic competition, but success depends on five complementary policies: stable investment, lower energy costs, refined tariffs coordinated with the EU, robust state procurement, and industry consolidation.Labour · Voted no · Read full speech (1,441 words) →
Nationalisation is a justified temporary emergency measure to prevent further collapse, but must be paired with plans to return British Steel to private ownership, stronger EU trade deals, and tighter parliamentary oversight of secondary legislation and compensation.Liberal Democrat · Voted no_vote_recorded · Read full speech (1,632 words) →
The tariff regime and quota cuts, implemented without industry consultation, will bankrupt specialist steel stockholders and aerospace-grade metal importers whose supply chains cannot shift to domestic producers, particularly as many specialist steels are unavailable in the UK.Conservative · Voted aye · Read full speech (655 words) →
Government cannot run businesses efficiently; the tariff and quota measures, particularly the 97% reduction on merchant bars, will inflate costs across HS2 and defence procurement and harm peripheral manufacturing industries faster than domestic capacity can grow.Conservative · Voted aye · Read full speech (852 words) →
The Bill is necessary recompense for the Conservatives' abandonment of Redcar in 2015 and affirms that steel is too strategically vital to be left to market forces or foreign ownership.Labour · Voted no · Read full speech (604 words) →
Nationalisation is correct and long overdue; the government should commit to a bold long-term vision that renews blast furnace capacity alongside electric arc furnaces rather than quietly allowing blast furnaces to close.Reform UK · Voted no · Read full speech (555 words) →
Sources
Division dataUK Parliament Votes API
DebateHansard · Commons
Stance analysisAI analysis · Claude 4.x
LicenceOpen Parliament Licence v3.0