Data (Use and Access) Bill Report Stage: New Clause 2

Parliament voted on 7 May 2025 to reject New Clause 2 to the Data (Use and Access) Bill at Report Stage, by 287 votes to 88. The clause, tabled by Liberal Democrat MP Victoria Collins, would have required operators of web crawlers and AI models to comply with existing UK copyright law when scraping creative works for AI training purposes. The vote concerns one of the most contested questions in technology policy: whether AI companies can use writers', artists', and musicians' work to train their models without permission or payment. The clause's supporters argued it would establish clear rules protecting creators in a new technological context. The government argued the clause was redundant because copyright law already applies to AI training, and that piecemeal legislation risked unintended consequences before a comprehensive solution could be developed. The vote divided largely along government-versus-opposition lines. All 261 Labour MPs who voted backed the government, as did all 24 Labour and Co-operative MPs. The Liberal Democrats provided the bulk of the opposition, with all 56 of their voting MPs backing the clause. They were joined by six Conservatives, six SNP MPs, four Plaid Cymru MPs, four Greens, six Independents, and two Reform UK MPs. The Conservative benches were notable for their near-total absence, with 110 of their MPs recording no vote. The division sits within a longer parliamentary dispute over AI and copyright that continued into subsequent Lords ping-pong votes through May and June 2025.