Elin Jones
Plaid Cymru
4:50,
10 March 2026
That brings us to voting time, and unless three Members wish for the bell to be rung I will proceed directly to voting time.
So, the first vote this afternoon is on item 7. These are the Procurement Act 2023 (Specified International Agreements) (Amendment) (Wales) Regulations 2026, and I call for a vote on the motion, tabled in the name of Jane Hutt. Open the vote. Close the vote. In favour 50, two abstentions and none against. Therefore, the motion is agreed.
Division number 7369
Item 7. The Procurement Act 2023 (Specified International Agreements) (Amendment) (Wales) Regulations 2026.
Elin Jones
Plaid Cymru
4:52,
10 March 2026
The next item is the legislative consent motion on the Crime and Policing Bill. I call for a vote on the motion, tabled in the name of Jane Hutt. Open the vote. Close the vote. In favour 25, no abstentions and 27 against. Therefore, the motion is not agreed.
Division number 7370
Item 8. Legislative Consent Motion: The Crime and Policing Bill.
Elin Jones
Plaid Cymru
4:52,
10 March 2026
Item 11 is next, Stage 4 of the Building Safety (Wales) Bill. I call for a vote on the motion, tabled in the name of Jayne Bryant. Open the vote. Close the vote. In favour 52, no abstentions and none against. Therefore, the motion on the Building Safety (Wales) Bill is agreed.
Division number 7371
Item 11. Debate: Stage 4 of the Building Safety (Wales) Bill.
Elin Jones
Plaid Cymru
4:53,
10 March 2026
Item 12 is next, the final stage of the Planning (Wales) Bill. I call for a vote on the motion, tabled in the name of Julie James. Open the vote. Close the vote. In favour 52, no abstentions and none against. Therefore, the final stage of the planning Bill is agreed to.
Division number 7372
Item 12. Final stage of the Planning (Wales) Bill.
Elin Jones
Plaid Cymru
4:53,
10 March 2026
Item 13 is next, the final stage of the Planning (Consequential Provisions) (Wales) Bill. I call for a vote on the motion, tabled in the name of Julie James. Open the vote. Close the vote. In favour 52, no abstentions and none against. The motion is therefore agreed on the final stage of the Planning (Consequential Provisions) (Wales) Bill.
Division number 7373
Item 13. Final stage of the Planning (Consequential Provisions) (Wales) Bill.
Elin Jones
Plaid Cymru
4:54,
10 March 2026
That concludes voting for the time being. We will now take a short break, and the bell will be rung five minutes before we reconvene for our Stage 3 deliberations.
As a bill passes through Parliament, MPs and peers may suggest amendments - or changes - which they believe will improve the quality of the legislation.
Many hundreds of amendments are proposed by members to major bills as they pass through committee stage, report stage and third reading in both Houses of Parliament.
In the end only a handful of amendments will be incorporated into any bill.
The Speaker - or the chairman in the case of standing committees - has the power to select which amendments should be debated.
The House of Commons votes by dividing. Those voting Aye (yes) to any proposition walk through the division lobby to the right of the Speaker and those voting no through the lobby to the left. In each of the lobbies there are desks occupied by Clerks who tick Members' names off division lists as they pass through. Then at the exit doors the Members are counted by two Members acting as tellers. The Speaker calls for a vote by announcing "Clear the Lobbies". In the House of Lords "Clear the Bar" is called. Division Bells ring throughout the building and the police direct all Strangers to leave the vicinity of the Members’ Lobby. They also walk through the public rooms of the House shouting "division". MPs have eight minutes to get to the Division Lobby before the doors are closed. Members make their way to the Chamber, where Whips are on hand to remind the uncertain which way, if any, their party is voting. Meanwhile the Clerks who will take the names of those voting have taken their place at the high tables with the alphabetical lists of MPs' names on which ticks are made to record the vote. When the tellers are ready the counting process begins - the recording of names by the Clerk and the counting of heads by the tellers. When both lobbies have been counted and the figures entered on a card this is given to the Speaker who reads the figures and announces "So the Ayes [or Noes] have it". In the House of Lords the process is the same except that the Lobbies are called the Contents Lobby and the Not Contents Lobby. Unlike many other legislatures, the House of Commons and the House of Lords have not adopted a mechanical or electronic means of voting. This was considered in 1998 but rejected. Divisions rarely take less than ten minutes and those where most Members are voting usually take about fifteen. Further information can be obtained from factsheet P9 at the UK Parliament site.
