King's Speech Motion for an Address: amendment (i)

The House of Commons voted on 19 May 2026 on an amendment to the motion for an Address in Reply to the King's Speech. The amendment, tabled by the Conservative opposition, was defeated by 323 votes to 108. The result followed the established pattern of King's Speech debates, where the governing party uses its majority to reject opposition amendments criticising the programme set out in the speech. The amendment expressed the House's lack of confidence in the Government's legislative programme as announced in the King's Speech. A successful amendment would have been a significant political blow, signalling that the Commons did not endorse the priorities the Government had laid before the monarch. In practice, the defeat of the amendment means the Government's programme proceeds without formal parliamentary censure at this opening stage of the session. The vote divided almost entirely along party lines. All 98 Conservative MPs who voted supported the amendment, joined by all five Democratic Unionist Party MPs, one Labour MP, and a small number of smaller-party and independent members. The 323 votes against came overwhelmingly from Labour and Labour and Co-operative MPs, supported by the Greens and other parties aligned with the Government. The single Labour Aye represents a minor rebellion. The result reflects the Government's comfortable working majority and continues a parliamentary session in which the Conservatives have consistently been outvoted on constitutional and procedural challenges, as seen in the earlier defeat of a Courts and Tribunals Bill reasoned amendment in March 2026 and the privilege vote in April 2026.