Crime and Policing Bill Report Stage: Amendment 19

Parliament voted on Amendment 19 to the Crime and Policing Bill during its Report Stage on 17 June 2025. The amendment was defeated by 328 votes to 189. Based on the debate, Amendment 19 was grouped with a wide range of proposed changes to the Bill, and the vote reflects the overall division on a package of opposition and cross-party amendments that the government opposed. Every Labour and Labour and Co-operative MP who voted did so against the amendment, while Conservatives, Liberal Democrats, and smaller parties voted almost entirely in favour.

The defeat means the government's original Bill provisions are preserved on the matters covered by Amendment 19 and the associated grouping. The debate around this grouping covered a broad set of policing and criminal justice concerns, including the criminalisation of paying for sex, protections for victims of sexual exploitation, e-bike and e-scooter regulation, knife safety restrictions, joint enterprise law reform, tool theft offences, sex-based harassment in public, equality impact assessments on police powers, and the rights of Gypsy, Roma and Traveller communities. None of these cross-party proposals secured enough support to pass against unified Labour opposition.

The vote reveals a clear government-versus-opposition dynamic. Labour MPs held the line entirely, with not a single Labour or Labour and Co-operative member voting for the amendment. The Conservatives (101 ayes), Liberal Democrats (68 ayes), and all smaller parties with members present voted in favour. Several amendments in this grouping had notably cross-party authorship, including new clause 43 on sex-based harassment in public, which was co-signed by over 100 MPs from across the House including Labour members, yet the government's whip held firm. A further related division on New Clause 130 concerning tool theft the following day on 18 June 2025 produced a similar result, with 178 ayes and 313 noes, suggesting a consistent pattern of government resistance to this wave of Report Stage amendments.