Scottish Parliament – April 23, 2025 – 1
UK Government Welfare Reforms (Amendment 3)
Result
❌ Motion failed.
Aye: 27 MSPs
No: 82 MSPs
Absent: 15 MSPs
Abstain: 5 MSPs
Parliamentary analysis
Multi-party against: Government No, Opposition dividedThis vote is most similar to a group of votes where the government is voting against a motion, and opposition MPs/parties are divided in their support.
This can reflect an amendment or motion bought by one opposition party, which other opposition parties are not supportive of.
Motion
Motion type: Amendment(?)
S6M-17242.3: As an amendment to motion S6M-17242 in the name of Shirley-Anne Somerville (UK Government Welfare Reforms), leave out from "calls" to end and insert "notes the most recent concerns highlighted by both the Office for Budget Responsibility and the Scottish Fiscal Commission about the projected substantial increases in UK and Scottish welfare budgets, the resulting fiscal pressures, and the unsustainability of these budgets in the current economic circumstances, and expresses its deep concern that neither the UK Government nor the Scottish Government has delivered policies that will address the high levels of economic inactivity or policies that will promote sustained economic growth."
Original motion(S6M-17242): That the Parliament calls on the UK Labour administration to immediately scrap its damaging social security reforms, as announced in the Pathways to Work: Reforming Benefits and Support to Get Britain Working Green Paper;
highlights the UK Government’s own impact analysis, which shows that 250,000 people, including 50,000 children, will be pushed into poverty under these plans, and notes the Resolution Foundation’s report that lower-income households are set to become £500 a year poorer, following the UK Government’s Spring Statement 2025.
Annotations
No annotations for this decision.
Whip reports
No whip reports for this decision.
Overall counts
| Grouping | MSPs on date | Vote participant count | For motion | Against motion | Neutral motion | Absent motion | Turnout | For motion percentage |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| All MSPs | 129 | 109 | 27 | 82 | 5 | 15 | 84.50% | 24.77% |
Government counts
| Grouping | MSPs on date | Vote participant count | For motion | Against motion | Neutral motion | Absent motion | Turnout | For motion percentage |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Opposition | 66 | 48 | 27 | 21 | 5 | 13 | 72.73% | 56.25% |
| Government | 63 | 61 | 0 | 61 | 0 | 2 | 96.83% | 0.00% |
Party voting counts
| Grouping | MSPs on date | Vote participant count | For motion | Against motion | Neutral motion | Absent motion | Party turnout | For motion percentage |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Scottish National Party | 63 | 61 | 0 | 61 | 0 | 2 | 96.83% | 0.00% |
| Labour | 23 | 14 | 0 | 14 | 0 | 9 | 60.87% | 0.00% |
| Liberal Democrat | 5 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 5 | 0 | 0.00% | n/a |
| Conservative | 30 | 27 | 27 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 90.00% | 100.00% |
| Green | 8 | 7 | 0 | 7 | 0 | 1 | 87.50% | 0.00% |
Voting list
| Person | Party | Vote | Party alignment |
|---|---|---|---|
| Alexander Burnett | Conservative | Aye | 100.00% |
| Graham Simpson | Conservative | Aye | 100.00% |
| Jamie Halcro Johnston | Conservative | Aye | 100.00% |
| Sue Webber | Conservative | Aye | 100.00% |
| Sandesh Gulhane | Conservative | Aye | 100.00% |
| Alex Cole-Hamilton | Liberal Democrat | Abstain | n/a |
| Kevin Stewart | Scottish National Party | No | 100.00% |
| Michael Marra | Labour | No | 100.00% |
| Humza Yousaf | Scottish National Party | No | 100.00% |
| Claire Baker | Labour | No | 100.00% |
| Bob Doris | Scottish National Party | No | 100.00% |
| Brian Whittle | Conservative | Aye | 100.00% |
| Finlay Carson | Conservative | Aye | 100.00% |
| Fiona Hyslop | Scottish National Party | No | 100.00% |
| Annabelle Ewing | Scottish National Party | No | 100.00% |
| Sharon Dowey | Conservative | Aye | 100.00% |
| Neil Gray | Scottish National Party | No | 100.00% |
| Stephen Kerr | Conservative | Aye | 100.00% |
| Natalie Don | Scottish National Party | No | 100.00% |
| Beatrice Wishart | Liberal Democrat | Abstain | n/a |
| Emma Roddick | Scottish National Party | No | 100.00% |
| Colin Smyth | Labour | No | 100.00% |
| Tom Arthur | Scottish National Party | No | 100.00% |
| Willie Coffey | Scottish National Party | No | 100.00% |
| Graeme Dey | Scottish National Party | No | 100.00% |
| Kenneth Gibson | Scottish National Party | No | 100.00% |
| Alex Rowley | Labour | Absent | n/a |
| Richard Leonard | Labour | Absent | n/a |
| Davy Russell | Unknown | Absent | n/a |
| Mercedes Villalba | Labour | Absent | n/a |
| Mairi Gougeon | Scottish National Party | No | 100.00% |
| Pam Gosal | Conservative | Aye | 100.00% |
| Paul O'Kane | Labour | No | 100.00% |
| Elizabeth Smith | Conservative | Aye | 100.00% |
| Jackson Carlaw | Conservative | Aye | 100.00% |
| Shona Robison | Scottish National Party | No | 100.00% |
| Martin Whitfield | Labour | No | 100.00% |
| Sarah Boyack | Labour | No | 100.00% |
| Rhoda Grant | Labour | No | 100.00% |
| Ash Denham | Alba | No | 100.00% |
| Maggie Chapman | Green | No | 100.00% |
| Clare Haughey | Scottish National Party | No | 100.00% |
| Gordon MacDonald | Scottish National Party | No | 100.00% |
| Ivan McKee | Scottish National Party | No | 100.00% |
| Murdo Fraser | Conservative | Aye | 100.00% |
| Neil Bibby | Labour | No | 100.00% |
| Tess White | Conservative | Aye | 100.00% |
| Shirley-Anne Somerville | Scottish National Party | No | 100.00% |
| Jenni Minto | Scottish National Party | No | 100.00% |
| Alasdair Allan | Scottish National Party | No | 100.00% |
| Jenny Gilruth | Scottish National Party | No | 100.00% |
| Fulton MacGregor | Scottish National Party | No | 100.00% |
| Màiri McAllan | Scottish National Party | No | 100.00% |
| Emma Harper | Scottish National Party | No | 100.00% |
| Karen Adam | Scottish National Party | No | 100.00% |
| Jim Fairlie | Scottish National Party | No | 100.00% |
| Jamie Hepburn | Scottish National Party | No | 100.00% |
| Jeremy Balfour | Conservative | Aye | 100.00% |
| Evelyn Tweed | Scottish National Party | No | 100.00% |
| Monica Lennon | Labour | Absent | n/a |
| Annie Wells | Conservative | Absent | n/a |
| Oliver Mundell | Conservative | Absent | n/a |
| Rona Mackay | Scottish National Party | No | 100.00% |
| Maree Todd | Scottish National Party | No | 100.00% |
| Angus Robertson | Scottish National Party | No | 100.00% |
| Paul Sweeney | Labour | No | 100.00% |
| Ross Greer | Green | No | 100.00% |
| Paul McLennan | Scottish National Party | No | 100.00% |
| Collette Stevenson | Scottish National Party | No | 100.00% |
| George Adam | Scottish National Party | No | 100.00% |
| David Torrance | Scottish National Party | No | 100.00% |
| Douglas Lumsden | Conservative | Aye | 100.00% |
| Liam Kerr | Conservative | Aye | 100.00% |
| Christine Grahame | Scottish National Party | No | 100.00% |
| Alexander Stewart | Conservative | Aye | 100.00% |
| Michelle Thomson | Scottish National Party | No | 100.00% |
| Jamie Greene | Liberal Democrat | Abstain | n/a |
| Ruth Maguire | Scottish National Party | No | 100.00% |
| John Swinney | Scottish National Party | No | 100.00% |
| Jackie Dunbar | Scottish National Party | No | 100.00% |
| Colin Beattie | Scottish National Party | No | 100.00% |
| Ben Macpherson | Scottish National Party | No | 100.00% |
| Gillian Martin | Scottish National Party | No | 100.00% |
| Daniel Johnson | Labour | No | 100.00% |
| Jackie Baillie | Labour | No | 100.00% |
| Lord Sarwar | Labour | Absent | n/a |
| Pauline McNeill | Labour | Absent | n/a |
| Edward Mountain | Conservative | Absent | n/a |
| Alison Johnstone | Presiding Officer | Absent | n/a |
| Keith Brown | Scottish National Party | Absent | n/a |
| Baroness Clark | Labour | Absent | n/a |
| Fergus Ewing | Scottish National Party | Absent | n/a |
| Carol Mochan | Labour | Absent | n/a |
| Tim Eagle | Conservative | Aye | 100.00% |
| Patrick Harvie | Green | No | 100.00% |
| Mark Ruskell | Green | No | 100.00% |
| Audrey Nicoll | Scottish National Party | No | 100.00% |
| John Mason | Independent | No | 100.00% |
| Richard Lochhead | Scottish National Party | No | 100.00% |
| Miles Briggs | Conservative | Aye | 100.00% |
| Mark Griffin | Labour | No | 100.00% |
| Stuart McMillan | Scottish National Party | No | 100.00% |
| Pam Duncan-Glancy | Labour | No | 100.00% |
| Ariane Burgess | Green | No | 100.00% |
| Liam McArthur | Liberal Democrat | Abstain | n/a |
| Willie Rennie | Liberal Democrat | Abstain | n/a |
| Michael Matheson | Scottish National Party | No | 100.00% |
| Rachael Hamilton | Conservative | Aye | 100.00% |
| Nicola Sturgeon | Scottish National Party | No | 100.00% |
| Russell Findlay | Conservative | Aye | 100.00% |
| Foysol Choudhury | Labour | No | 100.00% |
| Marie McNair | Scottish National Party | No | 100.00% |
| Angela Constance | Scottish National Party | No | 100.00% |
| Clare Adamson | Scottish National Party | No | 100.00% |
| Siobhian Brown | Scottish National Party | No | 100.00% |
| Bill Kidd | Scottish National Party | No | 100.00% |
| Elena Whitham | Scottish National Party | No | 100.00% |
| Craig Hoy | Conservative | Aye | 100.00% |
| Douglas Ross | Conservative | Aye | 100.00% |
| Roz McCall | Conservative | Aye | 100.00% |
| Gillian Mackay | Green | No | 100.00% |
| Lorna Slater | Green | No | 100.00% |
| Kaukab Stewart | Scottish National Party | No | 100.00% |
| Maurice Golden | Conservative | Aye | 100.00% |
| James Dornan | Scottish National Party | No | 100.00% |
| Joe FitzPatrick | Scottish National Party | No | 100.00% |
| Stephanie Callaghan | Scottish National Party | No | 100.00% |
| Meghan Gallacher | Conservative | Aye | 100.00% |
| Kate Forbes | Scottish National Party | No | 100.00% |