Government Defeats in the House of Lords, 2012–2013
This page lists Government Defeats in the House of Lords in the 2012–2013 parliamentary session.
The UK government was defeated 26 times in the House of Lords during the parliamentary session of 2012-13. Below is an overview of these defeats, listed in chronological order. Clicking on a link will open a PDF that has more information about the defeat. At the bottom of is information on the coalition split vote that took place in this parliamentary session.
| Defeat no | Date | Bill | Subject | Majority |
| 1 | 18/06/2012 | Financial Services Bill | To commit the entire Bill to a committee of the whole House, rather than splitting it between the Chamber and Grand Committee. | -4 |
| 2 | 22/10/2012 | Local Government Finance Bill | To insert a clause requiring that an independent review of all council tax reduction schemes be implemented by the Secretary of State within three years of the Act coming into place. | -38 |
| 3 | 21/11/12 | Justice and Security Bill [HL] | To enable judges and both parties, rather than the state only, to order a closed material procedure. | -99 |
| 4 | 21/11/12 | Justice and Security Bill [HL] | To introduce judicial discretion rather than obligation in the ordering of closed material procedures where national security is considered to be involved. | -105 |
| 5 | 21/11/12 | Justice and Security Bill [HL] | To require that the court be satisfied when ordering a closed material procedure that the harm to national security caused by disclosure of material outweighs the public interest in fair and open justice. | -87 |
| 6 | 27/11/12 | Crime and Courts Bill [HL] | To remove a clause which empowers the Secretary of State, by order, to confer, remove or modify the National Crime Agency’s counter-terrorism functions | -21 |
| 7 | 3/12/12 | Legal Aid, Sentencing and Punishment of Offenders Act 2012 (Amendment of Schedule 1) Order 2012 | To not approve an To not approve an Order on access to legal aid in welfare cases because it does not fulfil an earlier government commitment and would lead to many disabled claimants not receiving legal aid at first-tier tribunals (fatal motion). | -10 |
| 8 | 12/12/2012 | Crime and Courts Bill [HL] | To insert a clause repealing the offence of use of insulting words that are likely to cause harassment, alarm or distress. | -96 |
| 9 | 18/12/12 | Crime and Courts Bill [HL] | To insert a clause making bailiffs and enforcement agents subject to the same regulation and legal status as other authorised bodies under the Legal Services Act 2007. | -42 |
| 10 | 18/12/12 | Crime and Courts Bill [HL] | To require that probation trusts make appropriate provisions for female offenders, including unpaid work and behavioural change programmes. | -28 |
| 11 | 05/02/13 | Defamation Bill | To insert a clause establishing a Defamation Recognition Commission. | -131 |
| 12 | 05/02/13 | Defamation Bill | To insert a clause allowing profit-making organisations to sue for defamation only where they can prove that it has caused or is likely to cause substantial financial loss, and barring public bodies from taking any defamation action. | -8 |
| 13 | 12/02/13 | Public Service Pensions Bills | To include the Defence Fire and Rescue Service under the category of fire and rescue services generally, so that they are no longer subject to the separate Ministry of Defence retirement age and pension scheme | -23 |
| 14 | 28/02/13 | House of Lords: Membership | To move to call on the government to use restraint in recommending new appointments to the House of Lords; to allow members to retire permanently; to exclude members who do not attend during a session; and to not allow members convicted of serious offences to attend sittings. | -172 |
| 15 | 04/03/13 | Enterprise and Regulatory Reform Bill | To reinstate Section 3 of the Equalities Act 2006, which requires the EHRC to discharge its functions “with a view to encouraging and supporting the development of a society” which respects human rights and equal opportunities | -51 |
| 16 | 04/03/13 | Enterprise and Regulatory Reform Bill | To insert a clause adding ‘caste’ to the list of characteristics covered by the term ‘race’ in the Equalities Act 2010 | -103 |
| 17 | 06/03/13 | Enterprise and Regulatory Reform Bill | To reinstate civil liability in breaches of duty of health and safety regulations | -2 |
| 18 | 06/03/13 | Enterprise and Regulatory Reform Bill | To insert a clause to require that letting and block management agents belong to an ombudsman scheme | -5 |
| 19 | 20/03/13 | Growth and Infrastructure Bill | To remove a clause which allows employees to become “employee shareholders” when they receive £2000 or more in shares, and requires that in so doing they forego certain rights, including redundancy payment and the right to claim unfair dismissal. | -54 |
| 20 | 26/03/13 | Growth and Infrastructure Bill | To insert a new clause to make orders for extension to planning permission made after 1 January 2013 subject to local authority approval. | -6 |
| 21 | 27/03/13 | Legal Aid, Sentencing and Punishment of Offenders Act 2012 (Amendment of Schedule 1) Order 2013 | To regret that the government is excluding even the limited provision of legal aid services for first tier tribunal cases, such a provision having been judged by the Lords’ fatal motion of 3 December 2012 to be inadequate (non-fatal motion). | -5 |
| 22 | 27/03/13 | Civil Legal Aid (Procedure) Regulations 2012 | To regret that the regulations fail to deliver sufficient access to legal aid for disabled people, and that “exempted person” is defined too narrowly (non-fatal motion). | -15 |
| 23 | 27/03/13 | Civil Legal Aid (Procedure) Regulations 2012 | To regret that the regulations fail to deliver on a government promise to provide adequate legal aid services for domestic violence victims, many of whom will be unable to meet evidential criteria and will therefore risk injury or death (non-fatal motion). | -17 |
| 24 | 22/04/13 | Growth and Infrastructure Bill | To insist on removal of a clause which allows employees to become “employee shareholders” when they receive £2000 or more in shares, and requires that in so doing they forego certain rights, including redundancy payment and the right to claim unfair dismissal. | -69 |
| 25 | 22/04/13 | Enterprise and Regulatory Reform Bill | To insist on reinstatement of Section 3 of the Equalities Act 2006, which requires the EHRC to discharge its functions “with a view to encouraging and supporting the development of a society” which respects human rights and equal opportunities | -30 |
| 26 | 22/04/13 | Enterprise and Regulatory Reform Bill | To insist on insertion of a clause adding ‘caste’ to the list of characteristics covered by the term ‘race’ in the Equalities Act 2010 | -13 |
Coalition Split Votes
Cases where the coalition partners whipped their parties to vote in opposite lobbies, and the division was therefore a defeat for one governing party and a victory for the other.
