House of Lords (Hereditary Peers) Bill: Motion to disagree with Lords Amendment 2

MPs voted on 4 September 2025 to reject a House of Lords amendment that would have required all Ministers sitting in the Lords to receive a salary. The motion to disagree with Lords Amendment 2 passed by 331 votes to 73. The effect is that the House of Lords (Hereditary Peers) Bill returns to the Lords without that provision, keeping the bill focused solely on removing hereditary peers from the upper chamber. The amendment had sought to address a practical problem: peers who serve as Ministers are not salaried members of Parliament in the way Commons MPs are, but instead receive a daily attendance allowance of £361. When such peers travel for ministerial duties and cannot attend the Lords, they lose that allowance, meaning they are effectively working unpaid. Supporters of the amendment argued this was an unfair condition to impose on Ministers of the Crown. The government's position was that ministerial salaries are governed by the Ministerial and Other Salaries Act 1975, and any reform to them should be made through separate legislation rather than attached to a narrowly focused constitutional bill. The vote divided sharply along party lines. All 249 Labour MPs who voted backed the government motion to reject the amendment, as did all 56 Liberal Democrat MPs and 23 Labour and Co-operative MPs. All 72 voting Conservatives opposed the motion, joined by 2 Reform UK MPs and one Independent. There were no cross-party rebels on either side. The result sits within a broader pattern from the same day: on the same bill, the Commons also voted to reject Lords Amendment 1 (336 to 77) and Lords Amendment 3 (338 to 74), indicating consistent government control of the bill's ping-pong passage.