Planning and Infrastructure Bill Report Stage: New Clause 39

What happened: Parliament voted on New Clause 39 to the Planning and Infrastructure Bill during its Report Stage on 9 June 2025. The clause, tabled by the Conservative opposition, concerned compulsory purchase order (CPO) compensation arrangements, seeking stronger protections and fairer payments for those whose land or property is acquired by the state. The government and its Labour and Labour and Co-operative members voted against it, and the clause was defeated by 335 votes to 113.

Why it matters: Compulsory purchase orders allow public bodies to acquire land and property without the owner's consent, typically for infrastructure, housing, or regeneration projects. New Clause 39 sought to strengthen the financial and procedural protections available to those subjected to such orders. Its defeat means the Bill proceeds without those additional safeguards, leaving the existing CPO compensation framework broadly unchanged for now. Farming communities, rural landowners, and homeowners facing displacement were among those whose representatives argued they would be left exposed by the Bill's current provisions.

The politics: The vote divided sharply along party lines. All 293 voting Labour members and all 35 Labour and Co-operative members opposed the clause, while 95 Conservatives backed it. Reform UK, Plaid Cymru, the Democratic Unionist Party, and Traditional Unionist Voice also voted in favour, producing a cross-party grouping of opposition parties united against the government's position. The Greens, unusually, voted with the government against the clause. The debate formed part of a broader pattern in which the government rejected a series of Conservative and cross-party amendments across the Report Stage, with opposition members arguing that the government's refusal to accept any substantive changes had missed an opportunity to improve the legislation before it passes to the House of Lords.