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

The House of Commons voted on 20 May 2026 on amendment (p) to the motion for an Address in reply to the King's Speech. The amendment was defeated by 316 votes to 104. The King's Speech, delivered at the State Opening of Parliament, sets out the government's legislative programme, and the Address is the formal Commons response. Amendments to that Address allow opposition parties to register objections to what the programme contains or omits. The amendment raised concerns about constitutional accountability and the role of Parliament in scrutinising the government's agenda. Defeats of this kind do not change the law directly, but they signal where significant blocs of MPs believe the government's programme falls short. A successful amendment would have sent a formal message of parliamentary dissatisfaction back to the Crown and embarrassed the government by fracturing its majority. The Conservative Party provided the bulk of the Aye votes, with 89 of its MPs supporting the amendment alongside 5 Reform UK members, 5 independents, 1 Restore Britain MP, and 1 Democratic Unionist Party MP. Labour and its Co-operative partners combined for 304 No votes, joined by the Greens on 5 and the SDLP on 1. There were no Conservative No votes and no Labour Aye votes, making this a clean government-versus-opposition division. The result fits the pattern of the day: a related amendment (o) was defeated by an almost identical margin of 317 to 104 on the same date, and an earlier amendment (i) was defeated 323 to 108 on 19 May, suggesting a coordinated opposition strategy across multiple amendments that the government comfortably repelled each time.