Motion to sit in private

What happened: On 4 July 2025, the House of Commons voted on a motion to sit in private, which would have closed the parliamentary chamber to public observers and the press. The motion was overwhelmingly defeated by 33 votes to 1, with the single Aye vote coming from the Labour benches.

Why it matters: Motions to sit in private, if passed, would exclude the public and journalists from witnessing parliamentary proceedings directly. The near-unanimous rejection of this motion reaffirms the longstanding convention that Commons business is conducted in public view. The practical effect of the defeat is that the session continued as an open sitting, maintaining the transparency and accountability that allow citizens and the media to scrutinise their elected representatives in real time.

The politics: Voting against the motion crossed party lines, with Labour, Conservative, Liberal Democrat, Labour and Co-operative, and Independent members all voting No. Three Labour members voted Aye, making them the sole supporters of the motion. Several parties, including Reform UK, the Democratic Unionist Party, Sinn Fein, and Traditional Unionist Voice, recorded no votes either way. Motions to sit in private are a recognised procedural device in the Commons and are almost always defeated; a near-identical motion on 11 July 2025 was also lost, by 58 votes to 1.