Crime and Policing Bill: motion to disagree with Lords Amendment 333

The Commons voted on 14 April 2026 to reject Lords Amendment 333 to the Crime and Policing Bill, passing the motion to disagree by 301 votes to 157. The Lords amendment, tabled by Baroness Buscombe, would have extended the maximum duration of closure notices for premises involved in illegal trading, such as shops selling counterfeit goods, to seven days initially and ultimately up to 12 months. The government opposed the Lords change directly but tabled its own amendment in lieu, which would allow the duration of closure orders to be extended only after a targeted consultation, and would permit different rules to apply to commercial and residential properties. In practical terms, the vote means the immediate extension of closure notice periods will not take effect automatically. Instead, the government has committed to a consultation process before any change to the maximum duration of closure orders under section 77 of the Anti-social Behaviour, Crime and Policing Act 2014. The government's stated reasoning, set out by the Minister for Policing and Crime Sarah Jones, is that moving too quickly risks unintended consequences for legitimate businesses and for people living in residential premises subject to such orders. The government also pointed to the high streets illegality taskforce, announced in the Budget with a £10 million budget, as the broader vehicle for examining enforcement powers of this kind. The vote split almost entirely along government-versus-opposition lines. All 243 Labour and Labour and Co-operative MPs who voted supported the motion to disagree. Conservatives (89 votes), Liberal Democrats (61 votes), the Democratic Unionist Party (5 votes), and Traditional Unionist Voice (1 vote) voted against, supporting the Lords amendment as it stood. Liberal Democrat MPs Gideon Amos and Max Wilkinson both spoke in favour of retaining the Lords amendment, arguing that current closure notice periods are too short to disrupt criminal gangs on high streets. A small number of independents split between the two sides. The Bill has since become an Act.