Product Regulation and Metrology Bill [Lords] Report Stage: Amendment 16

On 4 June 2025, the House of Commons voted on Amendment 16 to the Product Regulation and Metrology Bill at Report Stage. The amendment sought to remove a power in the Bill that would allow product requirements to be satisfied by complying with equivalent EU law. The amendment was defeated by 339 votes to 100, with the government's position prevailing. The power in question, contained in clause 2(7) of the Bill, allows UK product regulations to specify that compliance with relevant EU law counts as meeting UK requirements. Supporters of the amendment argued the UK should set fully independent product standards without automatic reference to EU rules. The government maintained that removing this power would undermine the UK's ability to manage its own regulatory framework flexibly, would leave consumers unprotected, and would cut across obligations under the Windsor Framework, the agreement governing trade arrangements in Northern Ireland. The vote divided sharply along party lines. All 89 Conservative MPs who voted backed the amendment, as did all 7 Reform UK MPs who voted and 2 Democratic Unionist Party MPs. On the opposing side, 243 Labour MPs, 29 Labour and Co-operative MPs, 60 Liberal Democrats, 4 Green MPs, 2 Plaid Cymru MPs and 1 SDLP MP all voted against. One Liberal Democrat MP voted with the ayes, representing the only cross-party movement of note. The result sits within a broader pattern of Conservative and Reform opposition to provisions in the Bill that they characterise as facilitating closer alignment with EU product rules following Brexit.