Industry and Exports (Financial Assistance) Bill Committee: New Clause 2

What happened: On 23 February 2026, MPs voted on New Clause 2 to the Industry and Exports (Financial Assistance) Bill during its Committee stage on the floor of the House. The new clause, which would have added conditions or oversight requirements to the government's power to provide financial assistance to businesses and for exports, was defeated by 273 votes to 156.

Why it matters: The Industry and Exports (Financial Assistance) Bill seeks to raise the upper limit on government financial assistance available under section 8(1) of the Industry Act from £12 billion to £20 billion, and to expand export finance powers. New Clause 2 would have placed additional restrictions or transparency requirements on how that money could be deployed. Its defeat means the government retains greater flexibility in how it disburses financial support to industry and for export finance, without the extra conditions the opposition was seeking to impose.

The politics: The vote divided sharply along government versus opposition lines. All 273 No votes came from Labour and Labour and Co-operative Party MPs, with only one Labour MP breaking ranks to vote Aye. The Aye side was an unusually broad opposition coalition spanning Conservatives (78), Liberal Democrats (52), the SNP (6), Reform UK (5), the DUP (5), Plaid Cymru (4), and several independents -- a cross-party grouping united in wanting tighter conditions on the expanded spending powers, though for varying reasons. A companion amendment voted on the same day, Amendment 1, was also defeated by a similar margin of 272 to 161.