Sentencing Bill: Second Reading
340Ayes
77Noes
Carried · majority 263 · Government won229 did not vote
646 Members · Aye 340 · No 77 · DNV 229 · grey dots in centre are abstentions
Analysis
Commons
Commons
Parliament approved the Second Reading of the Sentencing Bill on 16 September 2025, by 340 votes to 77. The vote sends the Bill to Committee stage, where MPs will scrutinise its detailed provisions. The Bill overhauls sentencing in England and Wales by creating a presumption to suspend custodial sentences of 12 months or less, extending the power to suspend sentences up to three years, reforming prisoner release points for Standard Determinate Sentences, and introducing new joint oversight of the Sentencing Council requiring approval from both the Lord Chancellor and the Lady Chief Justice before guidelines are issued. The Bill is driven in large part by the pressure of prison overcrowding. The Lord Chancellor, David Lammy, cited recidivism rates running at 60 to 68 per cent under the previous government and argued that the Bill returns sentencing to its purpose: punishment that works for victims, for society, and for crime prevention. In practical terms, the presumption to suspend short sentences means more offenders would serve their punishment in the community rather than custody, while the changes to Standard Determinate Sentence release points reset the minimum release point to one third for categories currently released at 40 or 50 per cent. New income reduction orders would require offenders on suspended sentences who earn above a threshold to pay a monthly sum for the duration of that sentence. The vote divided almost entirely along party lines. All 282 Labour and Labour and Co-operative MPs who voted backed the Bill, as did all 54 Liberal Democrats and all three Green MPs who voted. All 72 Conservatives who voted opposed it, joined by all four Reform UK MPs who voted and one Democratic Unionist Party MP. Four Reform UK MPs and 44 Conservatives had no vote recorded. There were no notable cross-party rebels.
Voting Aye meant
Support the Sentencing Bill's approach to reforming prison sentencing, reducing short custodial terms, restructuring release points, and tackling prison overcrowding through a package of sentencing and probation reforms.
Voting No meant
Oppose the Sentencing Bill at Second Reading, likely on grounds that suspending more short sentences and earlier release undermine punishment, deterrence, or public safety.
Each row is one party. The stacked bar gives the within-party split of Aye / No / Absent; the columns on the right give the raw counts. The whip column shows the published party position — “Free vote” means the whip was formally removed for this division.
Party
Whip
Aye / No / Abs
Aye
No
Abs
Labour Party
Whipped Aye
250
0
111
Conservative and Unionist Party
Whipped No
0
72
44
Liberal Democrats
Whipped Aye
54
0
17
Labour and Co-operative Party
Whipped Aye
32
0
10
Independent
—
3
1
9
Scottish National Party
—
0
0
9
Reform UK
Whipped No
0
4
4
Sinn Féin
—
0
0
7
Democratic Unionist Party
—
0
1
4
Green Party of England and Wales
Whipped Aye
3
0
1
Plaid Cymru
—
0
0
4
Social Democratic and Labour Party
—
0
0
2
Your Party
—
0
0
2
Alliance Party of Northern Ireland
—
0
0
1
Restore Britain
—
0
0
1
Speaker
—
0
0
1
Traditional Unionist Voice
—
0
0
1
Ulster Unionist Party
—
0
0
1
Source · Hansard · UK Parliament Votes API · whip status from announced positions; “free vote” indicates the whip was formally removed
The Bill is essential to prevent prisons running out of space while delivering 'punishment that works' through earned progression incentives, community sentences, tagging, and victim protections, backed by evidence from Texas and the Gauke review.Labour · Voted aye · Read full speech (4,787 words) →
The Bill is a 'white flag surrender' that will unleash a crime wave by releasing 43,000 criminals annually, abandoning short sentences for burglars, rapists, and domestic abusers, and removing law enforcement perspectives from parole boards.Conservative · Voted no · Read full speech (3,992 words) →
The Bill's reforms are necessary and welcome, but implementation faces serious challenges around probation staffing (10,000 shortfall), Serco tagging reliability, and the earned progression model's criteria for rehabilitation versus behaviour management.Labour · Voted aye · Read full speech (2,566 words) →
The Bill addresses real problems and includes positive domestic abuse identifier measures, but requires significant changes: domestic abuse must be excluded from short sentence presumptions, the Lord Chancellor's veto over sentencing guidelines threatens judicial independence, and probation must be properly resourced.Liberal Democrat · Voted aye · Read full speech (1,368 words) →
Crime is a malevolent choice requiring retributive justice and punishment, not treatment; the Bill wrongly treats crime as illness and fails to protect victims—dangerous offenders like those guilty of domestic abuse should serve much longer sentences.Conservative · Voted no · Read full speech (445 words) →
As a former police officer, the Bill delivers necessary reform by building 14,000 prison places, replacing ineffective short sentences with community punishment, and prioritizing victim protection through domestic abuse identifiers and sentencing remarks transparency.Labour · Voted aye · Read full speech (954 words) →
The Government wrongly claims credit for HMP Millsike (1,468 places) which was approved and started under the previous Conservative Government in 2021, not by Labour; overall prison building claims are misleading.Conservative · Voted no · Read full speech (1,592 words) →
Sources
Division dataUK Parliament Votes API
DebateHansard · Commons
Stance analysisAI analysis · Claude 4.x
LicenceOpen Parliament Licence v3.0