Westminster government has said it will honour both results despite ministerial doubts1
MPs have voted resoundingly to extend both same-sex marriage and access to
abortion to
Northern Ireland, bringing the region into line with the rest of the
UK on two of the most significant social issues of the era.
The two historic votes, arriving within little more than a quarter of an hour of each other, were greeted ecstatically by equalities campaigners. With ministers promising to respect the results, they could have vital repercussions for people in Northern Ireland.
Both were the culmination of long campaigns by backbench Labour MPs, who said the government’s argument that the changes could only be made by the devolved Northern Irish government was defunct given tit has been suspended amid political deadlock since the start of 2017.
The changes came via amendments to an otherwise technical government bill connected to budgets and elections for the devolved assembly. In the first, tabled by the Labour MP Conor McGinn, a longstanding campaigner for equal marriage in Northern Ireland, the Commons voted 383 to 73 to extend it to the region.
In a vote soon afterwards, MPs approved an amendment by another Labour MP, Stella Creasy, to extend abortion rights to Northern Ireland, the only part of the UK where it remains illegal. The vote was passed by 332 to 99.
Both were free votes for MPs, as they were viewed as a matter of conscience. While the Northern Ireland minister, John Penrose, who spoke for the government, warned MPs that both potential changes would be fraught with complications, he voted in favour of both amendments.
McGinn’s amendment would theoretically lead to an automatic change in the law within three months if the devolved government remains stalled, although Penrose warned it might take longer due to legal practicalities. If and when the region’s executive is revived, it can then approve or repeal the measure.
McGinn credited the work of Love Equality, a Northern Irish campaign for equal marriage, and said LGBT people there had been “let down so many times before”.
McGinn, who comes from Northern Ireland but represents St Helens North in the Commons, said he hoped the devolved executive and assembly would be working again within the three-month deadline, and would make the change.
“But if Stormont still isn’t functioning by then, the LGBT community in Northern Ireland will know that Westminster will act to ensure equality and respect for all citizens, and finally give them the right to marry the person they love,” he said.
Creasy’s amendment argued that abortion laws in Northern Ireland, in which women seeking an abortion can face life imprisonment, were contrary to international human rights norms.
“How much longer are the women of Northern Ireland expected to wait?” she told MPs. “How much more are they expected to suffer before we speak up – the best of what this place does – as human rights defenders, not human rights deniers?”
After the vote Creasy tweeted: “Thank you to everyone who today stood up for equality in Northern Ireland – whether for same-sex marriage or abortion, today we have said everyone in the UK deserves to be treated as an equal. There’s a road to go yet but today a big step forward.”
Both votes were also hailed by rights groups. Amnesty International’s Northern Ireland director, Patrick Corrigan, said the equal marriage decision was “a day for the history books”. Marie Stopes UK, which campaigns on access to abortion, said the Creasy amendment marked “a historic day for women’s rights”.
Before the votes, Penrose said the government would honour the results, despite ministerial doubts. “Should this pass it will go into law,” he said. “It will become part of primary legislation. And so ministers will be bound by it and the government will proceed.”
But Penrose said that while Conservative MPs had a free vote, everyone should “tread extremely carefully” given the potential legislative and administrative complications.
On same-sex marriage, he warned it might not be possible to change the law within three months. “While I appreciate and sympathise with what the honourable gentleman is trying to achieve here, I would just issue a note of warning to anybody who is considering voting for this.”
He had also issued a warning about the technical complications of passing Creasy’s amendment, known as new clause 10.
“Regardless of how people may be minded to vote on the underlying principle, I think that there are real and genuine concerns about the technical effectiveness of new clause 10,” Penrose said.