Employment Rights Bill: Motion to disagree with Lords Amendment 1

What happened: The House of Commons voted on 15 September 2025 to disagree with Amendment 1 made by the House of Lords to the Employment Rights Bill. The motion passed by 326 votes to 160, meaning MPs rejected the Lords' modification and sided with the government's original version of the legislation.

Why it matters: This vote is part of the parliamentary process known as "ping-pong," in which a bill passes back and forth between the Commons and the Lords until both chambers agree on its final text. By voting to disagree with Lords Amendment 1, the Commons sent the bill back to the Lords with that amendment removed. The Employment Rights Bill represents a substantial overhaul of workplace legislation, covering areas such as trade union rights, zero-hours contracts, and unfair dismissal protections. The outcome of this vote means the government's preferred version of the relevant provision moves forward, rather than the modified text the Lords had inserted.

The politics: The vote divided almost entirely along government-versus-opposition lines. All 275 voting Labour MPs and 33 Labour and Co-operative MPs backed the government, joined by SNP members, Plaid Cymru, and the Greens. The Conservatives, Liberal Democrats, Reform UK, and the Democratic Unionist Party all voted against. The Liberal Democrats' decision to vote with the Conservatives and Reform UK against the government position reflects the opposition's shared interest in preserving the Lords' amendment rather than any broader ideological alignment. The Employment Rights Bill has been a major legislative priority for the Labour government and has attracted sustained opposition, with related votes in December 2025 showing similar margins and party alignments, suggesting the ping-pong process has been prolonged and contested.