English Devolution and Community Empowerment Bill: Government motion to disagree to Lords Amendment 36

**What happened**: The House of Commons voted on 21 April 2026 to disagree with Amendment 36 made by the House of Lords to the English Devolution and Community Empowerment Bill. The motion passed by 288 votes to 147, with the government rejecting a change that the Lords had inserted into the legislation. **Why it matters**: By voting to disagree with Lords Amendment 36, the Commons removed a modification that the upper chamber had made to the Bill and restored the government's original text on that point. The English Devolution and Community Empowerment Bill is a significant piece of legislation reshaping how power is distributed between central government and local and regional authorities in England, so the content of each amendment carries real consequences for councils, combined authorities, and communities across the country. **The politics**: The vote divided almost entirely along party lines. All 286 Labour and Labour and Co-operative MPs who voted backed the government motion, while Conservative, Liberal Democrat, Green, DUP, and Ulster Unionist MPs voted against, together with two independents. There were no Conservative or Liberal Democrat MPs voting with the government, and no Labour MPs voting against it, making this one of the cleaner partisan divisions of the day. This was part of a series of votes on 21 April 2026 in which the Commons disagreed with multiple Lords amendments to the same Bill, suggesting a sustained parliamentary disagreement between the two chambers over the shape of the legislation, a process sometimes called "ping-pong."