Budget Resolution No. 28: Capital gains tax (employee-ownership trusts)

What happened: The House of Commons voted on 2 December 2025 to approve Budget Resolution No. 28, which concerns capital gains tax treatment for employee-ownership trusts. The resolution passed by 362 votes to 164. The measure forms part of the government's implementation of its October 2025 Budget and relates to tax relief available when businesses are sold into employee ownership through a qualifying trust structure.

Why it matters: Employee-ownership trusts allow company founders or shareholders to sell their business to a trust that holds shares on behalf of the workforce, giving employees a stake in the company they work for. Capital gains tax relief on such transfers is designed to make this route financially attractive to sellers, encouraging more businesses to adopt employee-ownership models. By approving this resolution, Parliament advanced a measure intended to widen worker participation in business ownership, with potential implications for how profits are shared and how companies are governed across the economy.

The politics: The vote divided almost entirely along government-versus-opposition lines. All 349 Labour and Labour and Co-operative MPs who voted backed the resolution, joined by eight independents, three Green MPs, and representatives from the SDLP and Your Party. All Conservative, Liberal Democrat, Reform UK, and DUP members who voted opposed it. There were no notable cross-party rebels in either direction. The division fits a broader pattern seen in related votes from early 2026, where opposition parties consistently challenged government economic measures while the Labour majority carried each division comfortably.