Votes · October 2026 · Opposition day motion

Opposition day motion: Support for British farmers: how MPs voted on 21 October 2026

Division 104, 21 October 2026, 19:20. Noes 279, against 57; majority 222 (Commons Votes API).

The question

That this House regrets the Government’s chaotic opening of the Sustainable Farming Incentive (SFI) 2026 application window on 22 September 2026; notes that the scheme’s budget was exhausted within hours, leaving many farmers unable to apply after months of preparation; further regrets the previous Government’s decision to design the SFI on a first come, first served basis and its post-Brexit trade deals with Australia and New Zealand, which fundamentally undermined British farmers, their £358 million underspend in agricultural budget, and decisions to effectively cut farmers’ incomes in their approach to phasing out direct payments; further notes that the Government’s decision to accelerate the direct payments phase-out whilst stop-starting new schemes like SFI has left farmers with no universal payment offer for the first time since 1945; also regrets the Government’s changes to Agricultural Property Relief and cuts to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs and farming budgets; also notes that the lack of an effective payment scheme for farms has undermined their profitability and the UK’s ability to produce food, recover nature and adapt to climate change; notes that farmers are deeply concerned about surging input costs, the impact of the Carbon Border Adjustment Mechanism on fertiliser costs, the impact of consecutive bad harvests and the looming crisis in the pig sector; and calls on the Government to guarantee long-term funding for all eligible SFI26 applicants, reverse the family farm tax, and commit to an additional £1 billion a year to properly fund environmental land management schemes.

As printed in Hansard before the division.

By party

Liberal Democrat MPs cast 53 of the 57 named Aye votes; Labour MPs 278 of the 279 named No votes.

Tellers: Mr Will Forster (Liberal Democrat, Woking) and Bobby Dean (Liberal Democrat, Carshalton and Wallington) (Ayes); Jade Botterill (Labour, Ossett and Denby Dale) and Laurence Turner (Labour, Birmingham Northfield) (Noes).

How each MP voted

336 named · CSV

Sources

• Hansard: Support for Farmers
• Commons division 104
• Commons Votes API: division bdf60aa3ecc6c876 23 October 2026
• Hansard API: division search be536540a5732328 23 October 2026
• Hansard API: debate bf3e0e94f1cc3b71 23 October 2026

SHA-256 of each copy read. Open Parliament Licence v3.0

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