Crime and Policing Bill: motion to disagree with Lords Amendment 342

Parliament voted on 14 April 2026 to reject Lords Amendment 342 to the Crime and Policing Bill, passing the government's motion to disagree by 281 votes to 70. The Lords had added this amendment to require courts to consider specific evidence before imposing Youth Diversion Orders on young people suspected of posing a terrorism-related risk. The government instead offered its own amendment, requiring statutory guidance to chief officers on considering alternative interventions and engaging multi-agency youth offending teams before applying for such an order. The vote concerns how courts approach Youth Diversion Orders, a civil preventative order that can be imposed on young people to manage perceived terrorism-related risk. The Lords wanted specific evidential requirements written into statute before a court could impose such an order. The government argued that fixing those requirements in law would create unhelpful inflexibility, preferring that statutory guidance set out how police chiefs should consider alternatives. The practical difference is between a hard legal test a court must apply and non-statutory guidance that shapes police behaviour before an application is made. Labour MPs voted unanimously in favour of the government's position, with 251 Labour and 27 Labour and Co-operative members backing the motion. The Liberal Democrats provided the bulk of the opposition, with 59 of their MPs voting no, joined by 4 Greens and 3 Plaid Cymru members. One Conservative MP voted no, while the vast majority of the Conservative parliamentary party, 115 MPs, had no vote recorded. A related vote on 20 April 2026 on Lords Reason 342B, a later stage of the same dispute, passed 294 to 61, suggesting the Lords ultimately did not press their position.