The topic lensIssue · 32 divisions tagged · 15 parties active
Welfare and Benefits.
Social security, pensions, and welfare reform
Divisions tagged
32
This parliament
Parties active
15
≥1 vote tagged
Most on-whip
Liberal Democrats
81% aligned
Recent activity
10
Most-recent divisions
Each row is one party. The bar shows how its MPs voted relative to a neutral midpoint — to the right = on-side with the majority position, to the left = opposed. The percentage figure is the share of that party’s MPs who took the same side: higher = more whip-disciplined, closer to 50% = a freer vote.
| Party | Stance vs neutral midpoint | Net % | Discipline | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Labour Party | Lab | -23 | 27% on-whip · 360 MPs | |
| Conservative and Unionist Party | Con | +5 | 55% on-whip · 114 MPs | |
| Liberal Democrats | LD | +31 | 81% on-whip · 71 MPs | |
| Labour and Co-operative Party | Lab | -23 | 27% on-whip · 42 MPs | |
| Independent | Ind | +5 | 55% on-whip · 14 MPs | |
| Scottish National Party | SNP | +26 | 76% on-whip · 9 MPs | |
| Reform UK | Ref | +12 | 62% on-whip · 8 MPs | |
| Democratic Unionist Party | DUP | +17 | 67% on-whip · 5 MPs |
Source · Hansard · alignment is the share of party MPs who voted with the party majority on tagged divisions
| Date | Motion | Aye | No | Carried |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 23 Feb 2026 | Universal Credit (Removal of Two Child Limit) Bill Committee: New Clause 3 Aye: Support requiring a formal government assessment of the Bill's effects, including on the estimated 150,000 children in households that remain trapped by the overall benefit cap and gain nothing from removing the two-child limit. · No: Oppose the new clause, arguing the government is already committed to a comprehensive impact assessment as part of its wider child poverty strategy, making a separate statutory requirement unnecessary. | 75 | 290 | No |
| 23 Feb 2026 | Universal Credit (Removal of Two Child Limit) Bill: Third Reading Aye: Support removing the two-child limit on Universal Credit, lifting benefit support for larger families and reducing child poverty · No: Oppose removing the two-child limit, citing the £3 billion annual cost or concerns about the policy's design and impact | 364 | 86 | Yes |
| 3 Feb 2026 | Universal Credit (Removal of Two Child Limit) Bill: Second Reading Aye: Support removing the two-child limit on Universal Credit, lifting around 300,000 children out of poverty at an estimated cost of £3 billion a year by 2029/30. · No: Oppose removing the two-child limit, arguing the state should not subsidise larger families and that individuals should take financial responsibility for decisions about family size. | 459 | 106 | Yes |
| 3 Dec 2025 | Pension Schemes Bill: Amendment 16 Aye: Support requiring the Bill to address pensions adequacy, reflecting concern that over half of savers will fail to achieve adequate retirement incomes under the current framework · No: Oppose the amendment, arguing the Bill's existing reforms to value-for-money, consolidation and scale are sufficient or that pensions adequacy is better addressed separately | 145 | 304 | No |
| 3 Dec 2025 | Pension Schemes Bill: New Clause 26 Aye: Support mandating an independent review into the pension losses of former AEA Technology workers, who were encouraged to leave a protected public sector scheme and later received reduced payouts through the Pension Protection Fund after the company's collapse. · No: Oppose the amendment, likely arguing the matter has already been examined by parliamentary committees or that the bill is not the appropriate vehicle for addressing a specific historical privatisation case. | 79 | 298 | No |
All 32 divisions on this issue →
By party, the MPs whose voting record on welfare and benefits is most closely tracking the party majority. A fuller “most active by speech volume + written questions” ranking is pending — needs per-issue speech aggregation.
LabLabour Party
| MP | Constituency | % on-whip |
|---|---|---|
| Apsana Begum | Poplar and Limehouse | 52% |
| Keir Starmer | Holborn and St Pancras | 50% |
| Ian Byrne | Liverpool West Derby | 46% |
ConConservative and Unionist Party
| MP | Constituency | % on-whip |
|---|---|---|
| James Cleverly | Braintree | 73% |
| Roger Gale | Herne Bay and Sandwich | 71% |
| Mark Pritchard | The Wrekin | 70% |
LDLiberal Democrats
| MP | Constituency | % on-whip |
|---|---|---|
| Alistair Carmichael | Orkney and Shetland | 90% |
| Tom Morrison | Cheadle | 89% |
| Helen Maguire | Epsom and Ewell | 88% |
LabLabour and Co-operative Party
| MP | Constituency | % on-whip |
|---|---|---|
| Stephen Doughty | Cardiff South and Penarth | 40% |
| Douglas Alexander | Lothian East | 33% |
| Luke Pollard | Plymouth Sutton and Devonport | 33% |
IndIndependent
| MP | Constituency | % on-whip |
|---|---|---|
| Cameron Thomas | Tewkesbury | 78% |
| Ayoub Khan | Birmingham Perry Barr | 74% |
| James McMurdock | South Basildon and East Thurrock | 73% |
SNPScottish National Party
| MP | Constituency | % on-whip |
|---|---|---|
| Stephen Gethins | Arbroath and Broughty Ferry | 81% |
| Kirsty Blackman | Aberdeen North | 79% |
| Pete Wishart | Perth and Kinross-shire | 78% |
Pending — issue-to-service mapping
Mapping each Westminster issue to the equivalent council service bucket (so “Welfare and Benefits” → the matching service line on council finance, with the ranked-spend table this section wants) is its own taxonomy job. Council service spend lives on the council pages today; cross-cut by issue here in a follow-on pass.
Sources, methods & last update
Issue taggingEach division is tagged to one or more issues by Claude classification, reviewed by topic admins.
VotingHansard division lists · Commons Votes API
AlignmentShare of party MPs voting with the party majority on tagged divisions
CohortThis parliament · 32 divisions