Budget Resolution No. 6: Capital gains tax (the main rates)

MPs voted on 6 November 2024 to approve Budget Resolution No. 6, which set the main rates of Capital Gains Tax (CGT) as proposed in Chancellor Rachel Reeves's October 2024 Budget. The resolution passed by 401 votes to 120. A budget resolution is a formal parliamentary step that gives provisional legal effect to tax changes announced in the Budget, allowing them to take effect immediately while the full Finance Bill is prepared. The resolution advanced the government's proposal to raise the main rates of CGT, the tax paid on profits from selling assets such as shares or second properties. Raising CGT rates brings the treatment of investment returns closer to income tax rates and is projected to increase tax revenues. Critics argue higher rates reduce the incentive to invest and may prompt some asset owners to delay or restructure sales to minimise their liability, potentially reducing the revenue actually collected. The vote divided largely along party lines. Labour MPs and Labour and Co-operative MPs voted unanimously in favour, as did the SNP, Plaid Cymru, the Greens, and most independents. All 108 Conservative MPs who voted opposed the resolution, joined by all five Reform UK MPs who voted and all three Democratic Unionist Party MPs who voted. Three independents also voted against. There were no notable cross-party rebellions on either side.