Steel Industry (Nationalisation) Bill Committee: Amendment 20

Parliament voted on 9 June 2026 to reject Amendment 20 to the Steel Industry (Nationalisation) Bill at committee stage. The amendment was defeated by 290 votes to 90. It would have inserted a condition into clause 58 of the bill requiring that the Secretary of State could only provide financial assistance to a steel undertaking if the National Audit Office had first concluded that doing so would secure value for money for taxpayers. The bill as it stands gives the Secretary of State broad powers to provide financial assistance in connection with the nationalisation of the steel industry. Amendment 20 sought to place a specific constraint on those powers by making National Audit Office sign-off a prerequisite for any financial assistance. Supporters argued this was necessary to prevent the legislation from becoming a blank cheque on the public purse. Opponents argued against the amendment, with the vote's outcome meaning the bill proceeds without this condition attached to financial assistance powers. The division split almost entirely along party lines. All 251 Labour MPs and 26 Labour and Co-operative MPs who voted did so against the amendment. The 82 Conservative MPs who voted all supported it, alongside four Democratic Unionist Party members, one Traditional Unionist Voice member, one Restore Britain member, and two independents. Reform UK's three voting members voted against the amendment, as did the four Plaid Cymru members and two Your Party members. The vote follows a series of similar defeats for opposition amendments to the bill across both 8 and 9 June, in which Conservative-led changes to constrain ministerial powers were consistently voted down by the government majority.