Equality Act (Sexual Orientation) Regulations — 19 Mar 2007 at 19:25
The majority of MPs voted to approve a set of regulations[1] that were made under the Equality Act 2006.[2]
This Act allows the Secretary of State to make regulations defining discrimination and harassment on grounds of sexual orientation, create criminal offences, and provide for exceptions.[2]
The Regulations define discrimination by a person A against a person B, on grounds of the sexual orientation of B or any other person except A, A treats B less favourably than he treats or would treat others (in cases where there is no material difference in the relevant circumstances).
According to the Regulations it is unlawful for a person A concerned with the provision of goods and services to the public to discriminate against a person B who seeks to obtain goods and services by refusing to provide B with goods and services of a quality which is similar to the quality of goods, facilities or services that A normally provides to the public.
The exceptions include matters concerning a person's home and family relations,[3] insurance,[4] blood donation,[5] Parliament and anything to do with GCHQ.[6]
As stipulated in the Act, the House of Lords also had to debate and pass the Regulations before they could come into force.[7]
- [1] Equality Act (Sexual Orientation) Regulations 2007, 17 April 2007
- [2] Equality Act 2006, Clause 81
- [3] Exceptions to regulations 4 and 5, Clause 6
- [4] Insurance, Clause 27
- [5] Blood donation, Clause 28
- [6] Bodies to which regulation 8 does not apply, Schedule 1, Part 1
- [7] Equality Act (Sexual Orientation) Regulations 2007, House of Lords, 21 March 2007
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 | 29 | 83 (+2 tell) | 0 | 58.2% |
| Independent | 0 | 1 | 1 | 100.0% |
| Lab | 248 (+2 tell) | 10 | 0 | 73.9% |
| LDem | 29 | 4 | 0 | 52.4% |
| PC | 2 | 0 | 0 | 66.7% |
| SNP | 1 | 1 | 0 | 33.3% |
| Total: | 309 | 99 | 1 | 66.4% |
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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