King's Speech Motion for an Address: amendment (l)
78Ayes
408Noes
Defeated · majority 330 · Government won161 did not vote
647 Members · Aye 78 · No 408 · DNV 161 · grey dots in centre are abstentions
Analysis
Commons
Commons
Parliament voted on 20 May 2026 on amendment (l) to the motion for an address in reply to the King's Speech, the formal parliamentary response to the government's statement of its legislative programme. The amendment was defeated heavily by 408 votes to 78. Because no debate extracts are available for this division, the precise wording and subject matter of amendment (l) cannot be determined from the record. The King's Speech sets out the laws a government intends to pass during a parliamentary session, and amendments to the address allow opposition parties to register formal disagreement with specific aspects of that programme. A defeat of this kind means the amendment did not alter the address, and the government's programme proceeds without the change proposed. Who is affected in practical terms depends on the content of the amendment, which the available record does not supply. The vote divided sharply along party lines, with the Liberal Democrats providing the largest bloc of aye votes at 61, joined by the Scottish National Party with 7, the Greens with 5, Plaid Cymru with 4, and 2 independents. Labour, the Labour and Co-operative Party, the Conservatives, Reform UK, and the Democratic Unionist Party all voted no. The result placed this amendment in a broader sequence of King's Speech divisions on the same day, all of which the government won comfortably.
Voting Aye meant
Support amendment (l) to the King's Speech address, signalling some dissatisfaction with or desire to modify the government's stated legislative agenda
Voting No meant
Oppose amendment (l), backing the government's King's Speech programme as presented and rejecting the proposed modification to the address
Each row is one party. The stacked bar gives the within-party split of Aye / No / Absent; the columns on the right give the raw counts. The whip column shows the published party position — “Free vote” means the whip was formally removed for this division.
Party
Whip
Aye / No / Abs
Aye
No
Abs
Labour Party
Whipped No
0
270
90
Conservative and Unionist Party
Whipped No
0
89
27
Liberal Democrats
Whipped Aye
60
0
11
Labour and Co-operative Party
Whipped No
0
34
8
Independent
—
3
4
6
Reform UK
Whipped No
0
6
2
Scottish National Party
Whipped Aye
7
0
0
Sinn Féin
—
0
0
7
Democratic Unionist Party
—
0
1
4
Green Party of England and Wales
Whipped Aye
5
0
0
Plaid Cymru
Whipped Aye
4
0
0
Social Democratic and Labour Party
—
0
0
2
Your Party
—
0
0
2
Alliance Party of Northern Ireland
—
0
0
1
Restore Britain
—
0
1
0
Speaker
—
0
0
1
Traditional Unionist Voice
—
0
1
0
Ulster Unionist Party
—
0
1
0
Source · Hansard · UK Parliament Votes API · whip status from announced positions; “free vote” indicates the whip was formally removed
The Government must urgently publish the Defence Readiness Bill and Defence Investment Plan, commit to 3% GDP defence spending, and scrap the Northern Ireland Troubles Bill to protect veteran morale and recruitment.Conservative · Voted no · Read full speech (3,304 words) →
The Government is investing record sums in defence (£270bn this Parliament), has signed over 1,200 defence contracts, and will deliver both the Defence Investment Plan and Defence Readiness Bill later in the Parliament as part of an ambitious reform agenda.Labour · Voted no · Read full speech (2,799 words) →
The Government is moving too slowly on defence; it must publish the Defence Investment Plan and Bill urgently, commit to 3% GDP spending by 2030, and launch defence bonds to mobilise investment at the scale required.Liberal Democrat · Voted aye · Read full speech (1,900 words) →
The Defence Investment Plan delay is damaging domestic industry and UK credibility with NATO allies; the Government must publish it before summer recess and provide a timeline for reaching 3.5% NATO target to allow industry to plan capacity expansion.Labour · Voted no · Read full speech (1,512 words) →
Defence spending has been allowed to fall under successive governments; Britain now faces its greatest threat since the 1930s from totalitarian states (China, Russia, Iran), requiring commitment to 5% GDP spending and urgent publication of the Defence Investment Plan and Defence Readiness Bill.Conservative · Voted no · Read full speech (2,009 words) →
The Government must invest rapidly in defence, but national strength also depends on rebuilding the social contract for young people through jobs, housing, and opportunity; without addressing economic insecurity and inequality, recruitment and patriotism will suffer.Labour · Voted no · Read full speech (3,386 words) →
The absence of the Defence Investment Plan and Defence Readiness Bill from the King's Speech represents a concerning vacuum in defence planning and industrial strategy at a time of acute threat.Conservative · Voted no · Read full speech (2,112 words) →
Sources
Division dataUK Parliament Votes API
DebateHansard · Commons
Stance analysisAI analysis · Claude 4.x
LicenceOpen Parliament Licence v3.0