Planning and Infrastructure Bill: Third Reading

MPs voted on 10 June 2025 to pass the Planning and Infrastructure Bill at its Third Reading, sending it to the House of Lords for further scrutiny. The vote passed by 306 ayes to 174 noes. Third Reading is the final Commons stage, at which MPs vote on the bill as a whole after all amendments have been considered. The bill overhauls England's planning and infrastructure consenting systems with the stated aim of accelerating housebuilding and major infrastructure delivery. Its key provisions include streamlining the consenting process for nationally significant infrastructure projects, restricting judicial review rights for development consent orders, creating a Nature Restoration Fund through which developers pay a levy to Natural England in lieu of site-by-site environmental mitigation, reforming electricity grid connections to move from a first-come, first-served system to a first-ready, first-connected approach, and introducing a cap-and-floor financial support scheme for long-duration electricity storage. It also requires strategic spatial development strategies across England and reforms compulsory purchase procedures. The vote divided sharply along party lines. All 305 Labour and Labour and Co-operative MPs who voted supported the bill; none voted against. All 97 voting Conservatives, all 56 voting Liberal Democrats, all six voting Reform UK members, all four Plaid Cymru MPs, all four Green MPs, and all five voting members of the Democratic Unionist Party and Ulster Unionist Party voted against. Three independents voted aye and four voted no. The opposition parties united in opposition despite their differing objections, which had included concerns about judicial review restrictions, the adequacy of environmental protections, compulsory purchase compensation levels, and the pace of reform. Several related divisions during the bill's Report Stage on 9 and 10 June saw amendment proposals defeated by comfortable government majorities, indicating the government successfully resisted attempts to alter the bill before Third Reading.