Finance Bill Committee New Clause 3

What happened: On 10 December 2024, MPs voted on New Clause 3 to the Finance Bill during its Committee stage. The clause, tabled by the opposition, would have required the government to produce a formal review assessing the impact of the Bill's tax changes on economic growth and public services. The amendment was defeated by 359 votes to 184, with the government's majority holding firm.

Why it matters: The Finance Bill gives legal effect to the tax measures announced in the October 2024 Budget. New Clause 3 would have imposed a statutory obligation on the Treasury to analyse and publish findings on how those tax changes affect economic growth and the quality of public services. Its defeat means no such mandated review will take place, leaving scrutiny of the Budget's economic impact to existing parliamentary and independent mechanisms rather than a government-commissioned report with a legal deadline.

The politics: The vote divided almost entirely along government-versus-opposition lines. All Labour and Labour and Co-operative MPs who voted backed the government in rejecting the clause. The Conservatives, Liberal Democrats, SNP, DUP, Plaid Cymru, and Reform UK all voted in favour of the review requirement, forming a broad but ultimately insufficient opposition bloc. No Labour MPs broke ranks to support the amendment. This vote was the first of several similar divisions during the Finance Bill's passage; related votes at Report Stage in March 2025 followed a comparable pattern, with the government defeating opposition amendments before the Bill passed its Third Reading by 339 to 172.