Medical Training (Prioritisation) Bill: Amendment 9

Parliament defeated Amendment 9 to the Medical Training (Prioritisation) Bill on 27 January 2026, by 378 votes to 91. The amendment, tabled by the Conservative opposition, would have inserted "a British citizen or are" into clause 4 of the Bill, meaning that British citizens who trained at medical schools outside the UK would be prioritised for NHS foundation and specialty training places alongside graduates of UK medical schools. The Bill establishes the first statutory framework for allocating postgraduate medical training places in the UK, requiring those offering Foundation Programme and specialty training places to prioritise UK-trained graduates and a defined priority group of graduates from Irish and certain EEA or Swiss medical schools. By defeating the amendment, Parliament kept the Bill's prioritisation tied to where a doctor trained rather than their nationality. British citizens who studied medicine abroad, for example at St George's University in Grenada, the University of Malta campus of Queen Mary University of London, or schools in Cyprus, will not receive the same prioritisation as UK-trained graduates under the Act. The vote divided almost entirely along party lines. All 278 Labour MPs and all 28 Labour and Co-operative MPs who voted backed the Noes, as did all 53 Liberal Democrats, all 8 SNP members, and all 4 Plaid Cymru MPs who voted. The 84 Conservative MPs who voted all backed the Ayes, joined by 4 Democratic Unionist Party MPs, 2 Reform UK MPs, and 2 independents. Two Green MPs voted No. The defeat followed two earlier Conservative amendment defeats on the same day, Amendment 1 (88 to 310) and Amendment 2 (61 to 311), suggesting consistent cross-party resistance to the opposition's proposed changes throughout the Bill's committee stage.