Pension Schemes Bill: motion to disagree with Lords Amendment 1

Parliament voted on 15 April 2026 to reject Lords Amendment 1 to the Pension Schemes Bill, which would have removed ministers' power to direct how pension funds invest savers' money. The motion to disagree with the Lords passed by 278 votes to 158. The amendment had been one of twelve defeats the government suffered in the House of Lords during the Bill's passage, and this vote was part of a series of divisions on the same day in which the Commons overturned multiple Lords changes to the Bill. The practical effect of the vote is that the government retains a reserve power, subject to safeguards, to require pension schemes to allocate a proportion of their assets to specified categories of investment. The government has stated that this power would be capped at directing no more than 10 per cent of assets into qualifying assets overall, and no more than 5 per cent into UK assets, in line with the so-called Mansion House commitments made by the government and major pension providers. Supporters argue this is necessary to consolidate the UK's fragmented pension landscape, improve returns for savers, and channel investment into the domestic economy. Opponents argue it represents an unacceptable intrusion by the state into the management of private savings held in trust for individual workers. The vote divided almost entirely along party lines. Labour and Labour and Co-operative MPs voted unanimously in favour of the government position, joined by the Scottish National Party, Plaid Cymru, and most independents. Conservatives, Liberal Democrats, the Green Party, Reform UK, and the Democratic Unionist Party all voted against. There were no notable rebels on either side. The shadow pensions secretary Helen Whately attacked the power as a "shocking power grab," while the minister Torsten Bell accused the Conservatives of reversing their previously stated cross-party support for the Bill's broad aims. The same pattern of voting was replicated across five further related divisions on the same day, with the government winning each by comparable margins.