Peers condemn gay sex at 16

[23/07/98 - Colin Brown, Chief Political Correspondent - Web - http://www.independent.co.uk/]

Anglican bishops attending the Lambeth Conference in Canterbury ignored appeals from the Government last night over the controversial Lords vote on equalising the age of consent for gays. 

Home Office minister Alun Michael had asked peers not to support moves by Baroness Young, former Tory leader of the Lords, to block the reduction of consent to gay sex from 18 to 16. But his appeal went unheeded by the bishops, who travelled from the conference last night to attend the debate in the House of Lords in defiance of MPs and gay rights campaigners protesting outside their doors. 

Baroness Young said: "It is the kind of thing that worries mothers and fathers who have a 16-year-old son and don't want the promotion of homosexuality." 

Her campaign was boosted by the Archbishop of Canterbury, who said lowering the age of consent for homosexuals would be a "grave error" and morally unhealthy. 

Baroness Young, 72, denied it was a "Tory plot", but she was backed by a heavy contingent of Tory peers in the debate, and some from Labour. They were angry with Tony Blair and the Government for allowing the age of consent to be lowered on a free vote in the Commons and used last night's voteto attack the Prime Minister. A former Labour government whip, who is now a peer, accused the Mr Blair of giving in to the pressure from "Labour luvvies". 

The threat of the amendment's defeat led to a day of turmoil at the Home Office. The measure is part of the Government's flagship Crime and Disorder Bill. 

Labour MPs were furious at suggestions that Jack Straw, the Home Secretary, would bow to the peers and allow a defeat on the age of consent for gays in order to rescue his Bill. 

The Home Secretary spent the day facing a dilemma over what action to take when the Bill returns to the Commons next Tuesday. Liberal Democrats and Labour backbenchers were lining up to protest in the Commons if Mr Straw sought to abandon the gay rights measure to save the Bill. 

Ann Keen, the Labour MP who led the Commons vote to insert the gay rights clause in the Bill, was standing firm last night. "The game the House of Lords is playing is totally unknown to most of us. The European Court of Human Rights backs this, the overwhelming majority of the British public do, as do all organisations that work with young people, and the overwhelming majority of the elected House of Commons." 

Mr Straw was preparing to offer the possibility of an amendment to further government legislation in the Autumn to placate the backbenchers who supported the lowering of the age of consent for gays with a huge Commons majority of 207 votes.

Defiant peers reject gay sex at 16

[23/07/98 - Colin Brown Chief Political Correspondent - Web - http://www.independent.co.uk/]

The House of Lords last night defied the House of Commons by throwing out a move to reduce the legal age of consent for gays from 18 to 16, leaving the Government's flagship law and order Bill under threat. 

Despite a last-minute Government appeal, Bishops turned out in force, leaving the Lambeth Conference in Canterbury in order to vote against the gay rights clause in the Government's Crime and Disorder Bill. The vote to strike out the clause was won by 290 votes to just 122, a majority of 168. 

With gay rights campaigners protesting outside, Tory peers led by the former Prime Minister Baroness Thatcher also turned out in large numbers to vote down the Commons decision to reduce the age of consent to 16 for gays. 

The Home Secretary, Jack Straw, now faces a dilemma of risking the wrath of the Labour backbench MPs who voted in a massive majority for the move if he seeks to ditch the reduction in the age of consent to rescue his Crime and Disorder Bill. 

Mr Straw could face a massive Labour backbench revolt if he asks the Commons to accept last night's defeat on a free vote, unless he can buy off the campaigners for a reduction in the age of consent with a cast-iron promise to introduce Government legislation in the next session of Parliament. 

"The Government is now considering its position in the light of the debate in the House of Lords," said a spokesman. 

Senior Labour MPs warned last night that they would put pressure on the Home Secretary to reject the Lords defeat and send the Bill back to the Upper House next Tuesday, when it has to be debated again in the Commons. The Government was embarrassed by overnight reports that Mr Straw would ditch the clause to save the bill, which may have increased the size of the vote. 

The Government said it was studying the majority, and the chances of forcing the Bill back through the Lords before reaching a final decision on the next move. Sources close to the Government's business managers said they believed the Bill would be sent back to the Lords with the gay rights clause re-inserted. 

The Liberal Democrats said they would put down their own motion rejecting last night's vote, and warned the Government against whipping their MPs into line. 

Alan Beith, the Liberal Democrat home affairs spokesman, said: "The Government went repeatedly to the stake in rejecting the Lords defeats on student fees. They have insisted again and again that the elected chamber must prevail. It would be extraordinary if they did nothing to allow a genuine free vote in Commons on the Lords defeat." 

Baroness Young, the 72-year-old former Tory leader of the Lords, swept to victory in her move to throw out the clause on gay sex after a passionate speech claiming she had been "deluged" with letters of support. Calling on the Home Secretary to think again, she said: "The fact is that the public do not want the age of consent lowered to 16. The polls show that over 70 per cent of the population are against it. Parents are very concerned about homosexuality - very much indeed." The Bishop of Winchester said the Archbishop of Canterbury had been forced to stay in Canterbury, but reminded peers that the Dr George Carey made it clear he was against the lowering of the age of consent. 

"The assumption is widespread that homosexual activity in general is as appropriate, as desirable as heterosexuality. It is as if one were to choose between them on an equal basis on a supermarket shelf," said the Bishop. The Bishop of Bath and Wells said he supported the lowering of the age of consent, but he was in a minority of one on the Bishops' bench. 

Lord Jakobovits, the former Chief Rabbi, also urged the Lords to reject the reduction. He said that constitutionally the tiny dissenting minority should not demand that the majority should treat "violations of the moral code" as equal. 

These were "turbulent times" with rising crime, divorce rates and broken homes. "Do we really want to raise youngsters who only care to have a fling, who seek no enduring long term loyalties, who recognise no moral code, and in the end no legal code either."