English Devolution and Community Empowerment Bill Report Stage: Amendment 25

Parliament voted on 24 November 2025 on Amendment 25 to the English Devolution and Community Empowerment Bill, which would have required mayoral development corporations to prioritise brownfield (previously developed) land before designating greenfield or rural land for development. The amendment was defeated by 367 votes to 99. The amendment would have placed a statutory restriction on mayoral development corporations: they could not designate greenfield land for development unless no suitable previously developed land was available. Supporters argued this would protect undeveloped countryside and direct housing and commercial development toward town centres and high-density areas where infrastructure already exists. Defeating the amendment preserves mayoral development corporations' flexibility to designate land without a brownfield-first hierarchy written into law. The vote divided almost entirely along party lines. All 90 Conservative MPs who voted supported the amendment, joined by 6 Reform UK MPs, 3 Democratic Unionist Party MPs, and 2 independents. Every Labour, Labour and Co-operative, and Liberal Democrat MP who voted opposed it, producing a comfortable government majority. The result is consistent with other votes on this bill at report stage, where opposition amendments were defeated by similar margins.