Railways Bill Remaining Stages: Amendment 148

Amendment 148 to the Railways Bill was defeated on 10 June 2026 by 279 votes to 155. The amendment, proposed by opposition MPs, concerned clause 68 of the Bill and would have preserved the ability of the Office of Rail and Road (ORR), the independent rail regulator, to hear appeals on the merits of decisions made by Great British Railways (GBR) about access to the network. Under the Bill as passed, such decisions by GBR can only be challenged through judicial review on procedural grounds. The vote matters because it determines the scope of independent oversight over GBR once the new public body takes control of the rail network. Under the Bill as it now stands, GBR will have the power to decide whether competing operators, including open-access services and freight companies, can access the tracks it also operates. Critics of the clause argued that removing the ORR's ability to rule on the merits of those decisions leaves competing operators with no meaningful route of appeal, concentrating significant power in GBR with limited external check. The amendment's defeat means that structure remains intact. The vote divided almost entirely along party lines. All 266 Labour and Labour and Co-operative MPs who voted did so against the amendment, alongside all five Green MPs and all four Plaid Cymru members. The 155 ayes came overwhelmingly from the Conservatives (91) and Liberal Democrats (59), with small numbers from independents, Reform UK, and Restore Britain. The Bill subsequently passed its Third Reading on the same day by 278 votes to 149, confirming the government's position prevailed throughout the remaining stages.