Finance (No. 2) Bill Committee: New Clause 9

Parliament voted on 13 January 2026 on New Clause 9 to the Finance (No. 2) Bill, a Liberal Democrat amendment that would have required the Chancellor to publish a report within six months assessing the combined impact on the hospitality sector of alcohol duty changes under the Bill alongside wider tax and cost changes introduced since 2020, including higher employer national insurance contributions and business rates changes. The amendment was defeated by 335 votes to 181, Division 407. The vote concerned whether the government should be required to analyse and publish findings on how multiple simultaneous fiscal pressures are affecting pubs, restaurants, hotels, and related businesses. Had it passed, ministers would have been legally obliged to produce that cumulative assessment. Its defeat means no such report is required, and businesses and parliamentarians will have to rely on existing tax impact and information notes rather than a dedicated cross-cutting analysis of the hospitality sector's position. The amendment produced a clear party-line division. All 292 Labour MPs and 34 Labour and Co-operative MPs who voted did so against it. The Liberal Democrats, who tabled the amendment, voted unanimously in favour, as did the Conservatives, the SNP, the DUP, Plaid Cymru, the Greens, and the three Reform MPs who voted. Five independents backed the amendment and four voted against. The vote sits within a broader pattern of opposition parties using the Finance Bill's committee stage to press the government on the burden of its tax changes on specific sectors, alongside separate related votes in which the government rejected Lords amendments to the National Insurance Contributions (Employer Pensions Contributions) Bill in March 2026.