Finance (No. 2) Bill Committee: New Clause 7
188Ayes
341Noes
Defeated · majority 153 · Government won119 did not vote
648 Members · Aye 188 · No 341 · DNV 119 · grey dots in centre are abstentions
Analysis
Commons
Commons
Parliament voted on 12 January 2026 on New Clause 7 to the Finance (No. 2) Bill, which would have required the Secretary of State to assess and implement annual uprating of the agricultural property relief (APR) allowance in line with changes in agricultural land values. The amendment was defeated by 341 votes to 188, Division 402. The amendment addressed a concern that a fixed APR threshold, set against a background of sharply rising farmland prices, would gradually bring more family farms into the inheritance tax net over time even without any deliberate policy change. Index-linking the allowance would have prevented this so-called fiscal drag effect. As it stands, the APR allowance in the Finance Bill remains static, meaning its real-terms value will erode as land prices rise. The vote divided almost entirely along party lines. All 334 Labour and Labour and Co-operative MPs who voted did so against the amendment. Supporting it were all voting Conservatives (97), all voting Liberal Democrats (65), the Scottish National Party (9), the Democratic Unionist Party (5), Plaid Cymru (4), and smaller numbers from the Greens and Reform UK. There were no notable cross-party defections from Labour.
Voting Aye meant
Support index-linking the APR allowance to agricultural land values, protecting family farms from being gradually drawn into inheritance tax as land prices rise.
Voting No meant
Oppose the amendment, defending the government's fixed APR threshold as set out in the Finance Bill without automatic uprating.
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 No
0
299
62
Conservative and Unionist Party
Whipped Aye
97
0
19
Liberal Democrats
Whipped Aye
64
0
7
Labour and Co-operative Party
Whipped No
0
35
7
Independent
—
4
5
4
Scottish National Party
Whipped Aye
9
0
0
Reform UK
—
2
0
6
Sinn Féin
—
0
0
7
Democratic Unionist Party
Whipped Aye
5
0
0
Green Party of England and Wales
—
2
0
2
Plaid Cymru
Whipped Aye
4
0
0
Social Democratic and Labour Party
—
0
0
2
Your Party
—
0
1
1
Alliance Party of Northern Ireland
—
1
0
0
Restore Britain
—
0
0
1
Speaker
—
0
0
1
Traditional Unionist Voice
—
1
0
0
Ulster Unionist Party
—
1
0
0
Source · Hansard · UK Parliament Votes API · whip status from announced positions; “free vote” indicates the whip was formally removed
Government measures are fair, necessary, and progressive; they raise revenue from those undertaxed relative to employees while protecting public services and maintaining lowest borrowing levels.Labour · Voted no · Read full speech (11,197 words) →
Bill represents broken manifesto promises and a 'war on landlords,' savers, and small businesses; threshold freeze and asset income tax hikes total £23 billion and will harm ordinary working people and enterprise culture.Conservative · Voted aye · Read full speech (4,456 words) →
Dividend tax increase is right because wealth taxation has not kept pace with economic change; comparative evidence from France shows it encourages reinvestment and is easily implementable.Labour · Voted no · Read full speech (1,788 words) →
Tax changes add unwarranted complexity, burden small businesses, risk unintended rental market consequences, and strain HMRC resources; impact assessments essential before implementation.Liberal Democrat · Voted aye · Read full speech (1,593 words) →
Changes overtax risk and enterprise, destroying incentive culture; dividend taxation contradicts government's own growth objectives and continues damaging trend of taxing return on investment.Conservative · Voted aye · Read full speech (292 words) →
Tax changes hit lower and middle-income families unfairly; 4.8 million more individuals will pay higher rate and 600,000 will enter additional rate, while millionaires can afford it.DUP · Voted aye · Read full speech (505 words) →
Government claims of fairness contradicted by numerous U-turns since Budget announcement; questions credibility of stated good effects.Conservative · Voted aye · Read full speech (53 words) →
Sources
Division dataUK Parliament Votes API
DebateHansard · Commons
Stance analysisAI analysis · Claude 4.x
LicenceOpen Parliament Licence v3.0