Railways Bill: Third Reading

The Railways Bill passed its Third Reading in the House of Commons on 10 June 2026, with 278 MPs voting in favour and 149 against. Third Reading is the final Commons vote on a bill before it moves to the House of Lords, and a bill must pass this stage in its entirety. The result means the legislation now proceeds to the upper chamber for further scrutiny. The Bill transfers Britain's train operators into public ownership and establishes Great British Railways as a single directing body for the network. In practical terms, this is the most significant restructuring of the railways since privatisation in the 1990s. Passengers, freight operators, and open access rail companies will all be affected by the new structure, which ends the model of privately contracted train operators running services under franchise arrangements. Party lines held firmly. Labour and Labour and Co-operative MPs voted 266 to nil in favour, while the Conservatives voted 89 to nil against and the Liberal Democrats voted 59 to nil against. Smaller parties were more varied: all five Green MPs voted aye, as did three Reform UK MPs and three independents. Earlier on the same day, three related amendments were defeated, with the Government's majorities holding comfortably in each case.