Medical Training (Prioritisation) Bill: Amendment 1

On 27 January 2026, MPs voted on Amendment 1 to the Medical Training (Prioritisation) Bill at committee stage. The amendment was defeated by 310 votes to 88. The amendment appears to have sought to widen the scope of who would receive priority for specialty training places in 2026, specifically by including doctors already working in the NHS or Health and Social Care Northern Ireland who had applied for a UK specialty training programme before the Bill came into force. The Medical Training (Prioritisation) Bill is designed to give priority in foundation and specialty training places to graduates from UK and Irish medical schools, addressing a situation in which UK-trained doctors have faced intense competition from a much larger pool of internationally trained applicants. Amendment 1, if passed, would have extended that prioritisation to doctors already employed in the NHS who had applied for 2026 specialty training. By defeating the amendment, the government maintained its original framework for how prioritisation would operate, keeping the Bill focused on its core purpose without broadening eligibility in ways it argued would undermine the legislation's effectiveness. The vote divided along largely predictable party lines. All 305 Labour and Labour and Co-operative MPs who voted backed the government's position with no votes in favour of the amendment. The 88 Aye votes came primarily from Conservatives (83), with smaller contributions from the Democratic Unionist Party (4), Ulster Unionist Party (1), Traditional Unionist Voice (1), and one Independent. Reform UK abstained entirely. The Conservatives stated support for the Bill in principle while tabling amendments they argued would improve it, though Health Secretary Wes Streeting dismissed their motives with some scepticism. The Liberal Democrats raised separate concerns about ministerial powers in the Bill but did not vote for this amendment in significant numbers. This vote was one of several amendments defeated on the same day, including Amendment 2 (defeated 311--61) and Amendment 9 (defeated 378--91).