Bus Services (No.2) Bill: Third Reading

The House of Commons passed the Bus Services (No.2) Bill at Third Reading on 10 September 2025, by 362 votes to 87. Third Reading is the final Commons stage for a bill, meaning it now passes to the House of Lords for further scrutiny. The government's measure cleared the chamber with a comfortable majority. The bill seeks to reform how bus services are run in England, shifting power toward local authorities and away from the deregulated market model that has governed much of the bus network outside London since the 1980s. Passing Third Reading sends the legislation forward toward the statute book, though the Lords must still consider and approve it. Bus passengers across England, local councils, and private bus operators are all directly affected by what the bill proposes. The vote divided almost entirely along party lines. All 262 Labour MPs who voted, along with all voting Liberal Democrats (59), Labour and Co-operative MPs (27), and the three voting Greens, supported the bill. All 88 voting Conservatives opposed it, joined by one Reform UK MP and one Independent. No party with more than a handful of MPs produced any cross-party dissent. Earlier that same day, the Commons rejected two Conservative amendments at Report Stage and also defeated an amendment by a wider margin, suggesting the government kept firm control of the legislation throughout its final Commons sitting.