Crime and Disorder Bill — Reduction of Age of Consent for Homosexual Acts to 16 — 22 Jun 1998
The majority of MPs voted to reduce the age of consent for homosexual acts from eighteen to sixteen bringing equality to the the law affecting heterosexual and homosexual acts.
The majority of MPs voted to insert a new clause into the Crime and Disorder Bill[1] which read:[2]
- In Sexual Offences Act 1956,[3] substitute "sixteen" for the word "eighteen".
- In Sexual Offences Act 1967,[4] substitute "sixteen" for the word "eighteen".
- In Criminal Law (Consolidation) (Scotland) Act 1995,[5] substitute "sixteen" for the word "eighteen".
- In Homosexual Offences (Northern Ireland) Order 1982 (homosexual acts in private), substitute "18" with "17".
The last part was to equalize the age of consent between homosexual and heterosexual acts which at the time was set at 17 in Northern Ireland.
This clause did not survive into the Crime and Disorder Act 1998,[6] and finally appeared in Sexual Offences (Amendment) Act 2000.
- [1] Crime and Disorder Bill, House of Lords, 1 April 1998
- [2] Ann Keen MP, House of Commons, 22 June 1998
- [3] Sexual Offences Act 1956, Section 12, buggery
- [4] Sexual Offences Act 1967, Section 1, amendment of law relating to homosexual acts in private
- [5] Criminal Law (Consolidation) (Scotland) Act 1995, Section 13, homosexual offences
- [6] Crime and Disorder Act 1998, OPSI
Party Summary
Votes by party, red entries are votes against the majority for that party.
What is Tell? '+1 tell' means that in addition one member of that party was a teller for that division lobby.
What are Boths? An MP can vote both aye and no in the same division. The boths page explains this.
What is Turnout? This is measured against the total membership of the party at the time of the vote.
| Party | Majority (Aye) | Minority (No) | Both | Turnout |
| Con | 18 (+1 tell) | 109 (+2 tell) | 0 | 80.2% |
| DUP | 0 | 1 | 0 | 50.0% |
| Independent | 0 | 1 | 0 | 100.0% |
| Lab | 283 (+1 tell) | 14 | 0 | 71.3% |
| LDem | 31 | 3 | 0 | 73.9% |
| PC | 2 | 0 | 0 | 50.0% |
| SNP | 2 | 0 | 0 | 33.3% |
| UUP | 0 | 1 | 0 | 10.0% |
| Total: | 336 | 129 | 0 | 72.3% |
Rebel Voters - sorted by party
MPs for which their vote in this division differed from the majority vote of their party. You can see all votes in this division, or every eligible MP who could have voted in this division
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