Sexual Offences (Amendment) Bill — Third Reading — 1 Mar 1999
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 motion supported by the majority of MPs taking part in this vote was:
- That the Bill be now read a Third time
A majority of MPs voted for the Sexual Offences (Amendment) Bill to be read a third time, thus moving it closer to becoming law.
The bill sought to reduce the age at which buggery was legal from 18 to 16. ("Buggery" is the legal term for anal intercourse either between men or between a man and a woman.) It also sought to reduce the age at which other homosexual acts were permitted from 18 to 16.
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 | 6 | 66 (+2 tell) | 0 | 45.7% |
Independent | 0 | 1 | 0 | 100.0% |
Lab | 256 (+2 tell) | 12 | 0 | 64.7% |
LDem | 16 | 1 | 0 | 37.0% |
PC | 1 | 0 | 0 | 25.0% |
SNP | 2 | 0 | 0 | 33.3% |
UUP | 0 | 2 | 0 | 20.0% |
Total: | 281 | 82 | 0 | 56.8% |
Rebel Voters - sorted by constituency
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
Sort by: Name | Constituency | Party | Vote
Name | Constituency | Party | Vote |
Graham Brady | Altrincham and Sale West | Con (front bench) | aye |
Joe Benton | Bootle | Lab (minister) | no |
Bob Russell | Colchester | LDem (front bench) | no |
Gwyneth Dunwoody | Crewe and Nantwich | Lab | no |
Tim Boswell | Daventry | Con (front bench) | aye |
Sir Peter Lloyd | Fareham | Con | aye |
Mr Jimmy Wray | Glasgow Baillieston | Lab | no |
Mr Jamie Cann | Ipswich | Lab | no |
Michael Fabricant | Lichfield | Con | aye |
Robert Wareing | Liverpool, West Derby | Lab | no |
Mr Denzil Davies | Llanelli | Lab | no |
Mr Ted Rowlands | Merthyr Tydfil and Rhymney | Lab (minister) | no |
Mr Eric Clarke | Midlothian | Lab | no |
Mr Raymond Powell | Ogmore | Lab | no |
Mr Allan Rogers | Rhondda | Lab | no |
Robert Key | Salisbury | Con | aye |
David Curry | Skipton and Ripon | Con | aye |
Mr Kerry Pollard | St Albans | Lab | no |
Mr Donald Anderson | Swansea East | Lab (minister) | no |