Claim f86bfb54Checked 21 Jul 2026
TrueOn the truth scale
“The Opposition voted against introducing the right to try.”
Reasoning & Evidence21 Jul 2026
The claim that "the Opposition voted against introducing the right to try" refers to the Universal Credit and Personal Independence Payment (UC PIP) Bill, which had its second reading in the House of Commons on 1 July 2025. The "right to try" guarantee — enshrining in law that attempting work would not, on its own, trigger a benefit reassessment — was a component of that Bill, with draft regulations published on 30 June 2025 ahead of the vote.
At the second reading division on 1 July 2025, the Bill passed 335 to 260. All Conservative MPs who voted did so against the Bill (0 Aye, 98 No, with 18 absent). The Liberal Democrats, SNP, Reform UK, Plaid Cymru, Greens, and DUP also voted against. The Conservatives' opposition was to the Bill as a whole; they argued it was rushed, incoherent, and insufficiently ambitious, and they did not single out the right to try provision for separate opposition. There was no standalone vote specifically on the right to try — it was part of the broader package.
In substance, the claim is accurate: the Opposition (the Conservative Party) did vote against the Bill that introduced the right to try, and thus voted against the package containing that measure. The only nuance is that their vote was against the entire Bill rather than a specific vote targeting the right to try provision. This does not materially affect the core assertion.
Sources:
- Hansard, UK Parliament — Universal Credit and Personal Independence Payment Bill, 1 July 2025: https://hansard.parliament.uk/Commons/2025-07-01/debates/56F2EF7B-404B-44D4-865E-EA09FCD92EA4/UniversalCreditandPersonalIndependencePaymentBill
- Beyond The Vote — Division 2074, UC and PIP Bill Second Reading, 1 July 2025: https://www.beyondthevote.co.uk/division/2074
- GOV.UK — "Further details on welfare reforms published ahead of Second Reading," 30 June 2025: https://www.gov.uk/government/news/further-details-on-welfare-reforms-published-ahead-of-second-reading
- The Guardian — "Welfare bill passes by majority of 75," 1 July 2025: https://www.theguardian.com/politics/live/2025/jul/01/welfare-bill-vote-labour-conservatives-keir-starmer-universal-credit-pip-uk-politics-latest-news-updates
- BBC News — "Badenoch accuses Starmer of 'giving up' on welfare reform": https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cgep3r9yg34o
From speech
Welfare reform is balancing universal credit so that it no longer pushes people away from work. That is what we are doing; the Opposition voted against it. Welfare reform is introducing a right to try, to incentivise people to take up opportunities. That is what we are doing; they voted against it. Welfare reform is providing record funding on apprenticeships. That is what we are doing; apprenticeship starts fell by 40% on their watch. The right hon. Lady talks about the welfare bill. It soared by £88 billion on their watch. Nearly 3 million people were written off. Face-to-face assessments collapsed because of the contracts they agreed. And who signed off those contracts? The shadow Chancellor.
Sources opened