Lords division · 17 Jul 2019 · No. 2

Northern Ireland (Executive Formation) Bill

Baroness Barker moved amendment 12, in clause 9, page 6, line 16, to leave out subsections (1) to (4) and insert:“(1) The Secretary of State must ensure that the recommendations in paragraphs 85 and 86 of the CEDAW report are implemented in respect of Northern Ireland.(2) Sections 58 and 59 of the Offences Against the Person Act 1861 (attempts to procure abortion) are repealed under the law of Northern Ireland.(3) No investigation may be carried out, and no criminal proceedings may be brought or continued, in respect of an offence under those sections under the law of Northern Ireland (whenever committed).(4) The Secretary of State must by regulations make whatever other changes to the law of Northern Ireland appear to the Secretary of State to be necessary or appropriate for the purpose of complying with subsection (1).(5) Regulations under subsection (4) must, in particular, make provision for the purposes of regulating abortions in Northern Ireland, including provision as to the circumstances in which an abortion may take place.(6) Regulations under subsection (4) must be made so as to come into force by 13 January 2020 (but this does not in any way limit the re-exercise of the power).(7) The Secretary of State must carry out the duties imposed by this section expeditiously, recognising the importance of doing so for protecting the human rights of women in Northern Ireland.(8) The Secretary of State may by regulations make any provision that appears to the Secretary of State to be appropriate in view of subsection (2) or (3).(9) Regulations under this section may make any provision that could be made by an Act of the Northern Ireland Assembly.(10) In this section “the CEDAW report” means the Report of the Inquiry concerning the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland under article 8 of the Optional Protocol to the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW/C/OP.8/GBR/1) published on 6 March 2018.”The House divided:

The Contents have it

Majority 145

Contents: 182 Not Contents: 37

At a glance The Contents won by a margin of 145 votes. The Government's position was Not Content, and it lost. This was not a whipped vote, so no party line applied.

How the parties voted

Contents

Liberal Democrat	56
Labour	54
Conservative	41
Crossbench	22
Non-affiliated	7
Green Party	1
Plaid Cymru	1

Not Contents

Conservative	21
Crossbench	7
Democratic Unionist Party	3
Labour	2
Ulster Unionist Party	1
Liberal Democrat	1
Non-affiliated	1
Independent Ulster Unionist	1

The party breakdowns are our own analysis of the official voting records (recorded votes only; they do not describe the formal whip). How we work this out.

Peers attend divisions ad hoc, so there is no did-not-vote list. Tellers are counted in the Content and Not Content totals, unlike in the Commons.

Tellers: Baroness Thornton (Content), Lord Stoneham of Droxford (Content), Lord Browne of Belmont (Not Content), Lord McCrea of Magherafelt and Cookstown (Not Content).