Passenger Railway Services Bill (Public Ownership) Bill: Committee: Amendment 14

What happened: On 3 September 2024, the House of Commons voted on Amendment 14 to the Passenger Railway Services (Public Ownership) Bill during its Committee stage, which allows MPs to scrutinise and amend legislation line by line. The amendment was tabled by the Conservative opposition and was defeated by 362 votes to 111.

Why it matters: The Passenger Railway Services (Public Ownership) Bill is the government's flagship legislation to bring passenger rail services back into public ownership, ending the franchising system under which private companies operate rail services. Conservative amendments at Committee stage represent attempts to modify or constrain how that transfer of ownership would operate in practice. The bill's passage would ultimately determine who runs passenger train services across England and on what terms, affecting millions of daily rail passengers and the staff employed by current train operating companies.

The politics: The vote divided largely along party lines. All 316 Labour MPs and all 37 Labour and Co-operative MPs who voted did so against the amendment, while 103 Conservatives supported it along with 5 Democratic Unionist Party members and 4 Reform UK members. Notably, the Liberal Democrats, who hold 72 seats, were entirely absent from this division, as were all 9 SNP members. The bill had already passed its Second Reading on 29 July 2024 by 351 votes to 84, and further divisions later in November 2024 showed the government successfully resisting Lords amendments, indicating consistent government control of the legislation's passage throughout.