Trade and Brexit
International trade, EU relations, and Brexit consequences
Based on 5 parliamentary votes
Sub-issues
How Parties Voted on Trade and Brexit
Government alignment shows how often each party voted with the government's stated position. Issue-aligned direction shows agreement with the AI-identified supportive stance.
Recent Votes
| Vote | Result | Date |
|---|---|---|
A vote on whether to allow a bill to be introduced that would require the government to negotiate a UK-EU customs union. The vote was tied 100-100 and the Speaker used her casting vote in favour, following parliamentary convention to allow further debate. Yes = Support allowing Parliament to debate legislation requiring the government to pursue a UK-EU customs union, arguing Brexit has damaged trade and the economy · No = Oppose introducing a bill to mandate customs union negotiations with the EU, defending the UK's post-Brexit independent trade policy | 102-102 | 9 Dec 2025 |
An opposition party called a debate and vote on the government's handling of the UK-EU Summit, likely calling for greater parliamentary scrutiny or a specific negotiating approach. The government defeated the motion, with 402 MPs voting against and only 104 in favour. Yes = Support the opposition's motion on the UK-EU Summit, signalling concern about the government's approach to post-Brexit EU relations and demanding greater transparency or accountability · No = Back the government's handling of the UK-EU Summit and reject the opposition's attempt to constrain or criticise its negotiating strategy with the EU Govt: No | 106-402 | 13 May 2025 |
Parliament voted on a government amendment to an opposition motion about the UK-EU Summit. The opposition (likely Conservatives or Reform) brought a motion criticising or shaping the government's approach to post-Brexit EU relations, and the government tabled its own amendment to replace or modify that motion with wording more favourable to its position. Yes = Support the Labour government's framing of UK-EU relations and its approach to the summit, backing closer engagement with the EU on the government's terms · No = Reject the government's amendment, preferring the original opposition motion — likely reflecting concerns about the terms of UK-EU rapprochement or a more sceptical stance on closer EU ties Govt: Aye | 321-104 | 13 May 2025 |
MPs voted to approve temporary regulations governing biosecurity and sanitary checks on animals, food, feed and plant products moving from Northern Ireland to Great Britain, as part of implementing the border target operating model. The regulations are transitional, set to last until at least July 2025 while a longer-term approach is developed. Yes = Support putting temporary biosecurity and sanitary controls in place for goods moving from Northern Ireland to Great Britain, ensuring food and plant safety standards are maintained during the transition period. · No = Oppose these temporary regulations, potentially questioning the need for such controls or the lack of an impact assessment for the measures. Govt: Aye | 374-9 | 11 Dec 2024 |
Vote on whether to approve new rules implementing the Windsor Framework's Northern Ireland pet travel scheme, which requires pet owners travelling between Great Britain and Northern Ireland to use pet passports instead of the informal grace period arrangements currently in place. Opponents, including the TUV's Jim Allister, argued this imposes new bureaucratic requirements on travel within the UK that did not previously exist. Yes = Support implementing the Windsor Framework pet travel scheme, accepting that a formal pet passport system is a reasonable and improved arrangement for moving animals between Great Britain and Northern Ireland · No = Oppose the Northern Ireland pet travel scheme, arguing it imposes new restrictions on movement within the United Kingdom that undermine the constitutional integrity of the UK and go beyond the previous grace period arrangements Govt: Aye | 412-16 | 13 Nov 2024 |
How is this calculated?
Government alignment (primary bar) shows how often a party's MPs voted with the government's stated position on this issue. This is the most comparable metric across parties, as it measures the same reference point for everyone.
Issue-aligned direction (secondary bar) shows how often MPs voted in the direction tagged as supportive of this issue by AI analysis. For example, if a vote is tagged “pro-environment”, a Yes vote counts as aligned. This can be misleading when the tagged direction happens to align with opposition amendments rather than government bills.
Why these metrics may differ: Opposition parties often vote against government bills for strategic or procedural reasons, even when they broadly support the policy area. The government alignment metric makes this clearer by showing the actual voting pattern against a consistent reference.
Source: Commons division data from the UK Parliament Votes API. Alignment direction determined by AI analysis of vote stance tags. Contains Parliamentary information licensed under the Open Parliament Licence v3.0.