Armed Forces Bill Report Stage: Amendment 11

Parliament rejected Amendment 11 to the Armed Forces Bill at Report Stage on 22 June 2026, by 322 votes to 171. The amendment, tabled by Conservative MPs including Mark Francois, concerned the Defence Housing Service's budget and its relationship to the defence investment plan, according to the Minister's response in debate. Report Stage is the point at which the whole House considers proposed changes to a Bill after it has left committee. The Armed Forces Bill is legislation that Parliament must renew roughly every five years to maintain the legal framework governing military service. The amendment sought to address how the Defence Housing Service's budget would be set out and connected to the defence investment plan. In debate, the Minister, Louise Sandher-Jones, confirmed the government's intention to publish the defence investment plan before the Ankara summit in July 2026, and said the Defence Housing Service's budget would be clearly set out and subject to annual reporting to Parliament. She argued there was nothing in the existing process blocking work from proceeding, and that the service would be operational from April 2027. The vote divided almost entirely along party lines. All 283 Labour MPs and 37 Labour and Co-operative MPs who voted opposed the amendment. Every Conservative, Liberal Democrat, Reform UK, Green, Democratic Unionist Party, Plaid Cymru, and Ulster Unionist MP who voted supported it. No Conservative MP voted against, and no Labour MP voted for it. The result reflects a broader pattern visible in related divisions on the same day, in which opposition parties united behind a series of amendments to the Bill while the government's majority held.