What Happens Next?

Bill clears first hurdle in an easy win for the Government and opens way to ram through legislation to continue the betrayal of veterans.

The Government’s Northern Ireland Troubles Bill has now cleared its biggest early hurdle, passing Second Reading by 320 votes to 105. That means MPs have agreed to the Bill in principle, and the Government can now move on to the detailed stages.

The usual committee that would negotiate timings has been bypassed.

Because ministers want this through quickly, they’ve locked the remaining Commons stages into an unusually tight two-day timetable.

Day 1 – Committee Stage (Whole House)

Instead of sending the Bill to a small committee, the Government is putting the entire House of Commons into Committee. This keeps the process under tighter control and limits opportunities for long, drawn-out scrutiny.

All discussion must stop at the usual end of the sitting — a hard cut-off. Once the clock hits that moment, the debate ends, even if MPs still want to speak or amendments haven’t been reached.

Day 2 – Final Commons Stages

Everything wraps up on Day 2:

• Report Stage — the chance for MPs to make final changes — must finish one hour before the end of the sitting.

• Third Reading — the last Commons debate on the Bill — must finish exactly at the normal finishing time.

The timetable is fixed directly in the Government’s motion, meaning MPs have no flexibility to extend or reopen it.

We do not have a reliable source showing the exact date set for Day 1 of the Committee Stage.

Next stop after this two-day sprint will be the House of Lords, where resistance is usually stronger and delays are easier to engineer.