Sentencing Bill Committee: New Clause 9

MPs voted on 21 October 2025 on New Clause 9 to the Sentencing Bill, which would have placed a legal duty on courts to collect and publish sentencing data including the nationality, visa route and asylum status of offenders within 24 hours of sentencing. The clause was tabled by Dr Kieran Mullan, the Conservative MP for Bexhill and Battle. It was defeated by 317 votes to 104. The clause would have created a transparency requirement sitting alongside the Sentencing Bill's main reforms to short custodial sentences and prisoner release. Supporters argued that without reliable data on the nationality and immigration status of offenders, Parliament and the public cannot assess whether migration, visa and border control policies are working as intended. Had it passed, courts would have faced a 24-hour publication obligation each time they sentenced a foreign national offender, generating a running public record linking criminal justice outcomes to immigration status. The vote divided almost entirely along party lines. All 90 Conservative MPs who voted supported the clause, joined by all five Democratic Unionist Party members, four Reform UK MPs and one Traditional Unionist Voice MP. All 277 Labour and 26 Labour and Co-operative Party members who voted opposed it, as did four Plaid Cymru MPs, four Green Party MPs and two MPs from Your Party. Five independents voted for the clause and six against. There were no Conservative MPs recorded voting against, and no Labour MPs recorded voting for it.