Adoption votes

The details

During the passage of the Adoption and Children Bill 2002 there were three votes in the House of Commons on whether to change the law on adoption to allow unmarried and homosexual couples to jointly adopt children. At the time of the Bill, only married couples could jointly adopt. Adoption by a single person was also allowed for certain situations.

On the 16^th May 2002 the House of Commons voted on an amendment by David Hinchliffe MP to allow adoption by both unmarried heterosexual couples and homosexual couples. This was passed by MPs by 290 votes to 135.

On the 20^th May 2002 MPs voted on an amendment by Andrew Lansley MP to allow adoption by unmarried couples but restricting it to heterosexual couples only. This therefore excluded homosexual adoption. MPs rejected this amendment by 176 votes to 303.

The Bill at this stage permitted adoption by married, unmarried heterosexual and homosexual couples; it was sent to the House of Lords in this state. On 16^th October 2002 Peers rejected adoption by unmarried and homosexual couples and reinstated in the Bill the ‘married couple only’ provision.

4th November vote

The Bill was returned to the Commons with the Lords amendments. On the 4^th November 2002 MPs rejected the Lords’ amendments – voting once more (by 346 votes to 147) to allow both unmarried heterosexual and homosexual couples adopt.

Iain Duncan Smith, then leader of the Conservative Party, imposed a three-line whip on Conservative MPs to support the Lords’ amendments, though it was widely reported that no action would be taken against Conservative MPs who disobeyed.¹ It was also claimed that Labour MPs were allowed a ‘free vote’, that is, they were permitted to vote according to their conscience.² The Lib Dem spokesman made clear on the floor of the House of Commons that his party imposed a whip on its MPs to oppose the Lords’ amendments (that is, to support adoption by unmarried and homosexual couples).³ No Lib Dem MP voted against this whip on the 4^th November.

In the days leading up to the vote, the Conservative Party’s policy on this issue became the focus of an intense and much broader debate about the leadership of the Party.⁴ In the vote on the 4^th November, 8 Conservative MPs defied the whip and supported adoption by unmarried and homosexual couples. A further 35 Conservative MPs did not cast a vote. There was a great deal of speculation that some of these had deliberately abstained to defy the Party leadership.⁵ However, some Conservative MPs were unavoidably absent. Under the Parliamentary system it is not possible to say which MPs deliberately abstained and which were unavoidably absent for the vote.

Following the vote on 4^th November, the Bill was returned to the Lords. On 5^th November Peers voted to accept the Commons’ amendments to allow unmarried heterosexual and homosexual couples to adopt children. Therefore this now stands as law in the Adoption and Children Act 2002 – married couples, unmarried couples and homosexual couples are allowed to adopt children in England and Wales.

How we recorded the vote

• Voted for allowing unmarried and homosexual couples to adopt children

  • All MPs who voted against the Lords’ amendments on 4^th November.
  • Those who abstained or were absent on 4^th November, but who previously (in May) voted for the Hinchliffe amendment and against the Lansley amendment.
  • Those who abstained or were absent on 4^th November and who abstained or were absent on the Lansley amendment, but who voted for the Hinchliffe amendment.

• Voted for allowing unmarried heterosexual couples to adopt children

  MPs who abstained or were absent on 4^th November, but who voted for the Hinchliffe amendment and the Lansley amendment.

• Voted against allowing unmarried and homosexual couples to adopt children

  • All MPs who voted for the Lords’ amendments on 4^th November.
  • Those who abstained or were absent on 4^th November and who abstained or were absent on the Lansley amendment, but who voted against the Hinchliffe amendment on 16^th May.

• Voted against allowing homosexual couples to adopt children

  MPs who abstained or were absent on 4^th November and who abstained or were absent on the Hinchliffe amendment, but who voted for the Lansley amendment.

• Abstained or was absent on the votes for allowing unmarried and homosexual couples to adopt children

  MPs who abstained or were absent on all three votes.

• Abstained deliberately on the vote for allowing homosexual couples to adopt children

  Brian Donohoe (Cunninghame South) abstained or was absent on 4^th November and abstained or was absent on the Hinchliffe amendment, but on the Lansley amendment deliberately voted on both sides in order to register an abstention.

Vote on 4^th November 2002

Our statement of an MP’s position on adoption describes their most recent vote.

For all MPs who voted on 4^th November, this means our statement of their position describes their vote on that day. This supersedes any vote cast on either the Hinchliffe or the Lansley amendments in May.

Voting examples

“Voted for allowing unmarried and homosexual couples to adopt children” covers:

• Nick Ainger – who voted against the Lords’ amendments on 4^th November, and for Hinchliffe and against Lansley in May.
• Douglas Alexander – who voted against the Lords’ amendments on 4^th November, and abstained or was absent for the votes on Hinchliffe and Lansley in May.
• Tony Blair – who voted against the Lords’ amendments on 4^th November, voted for Hinchliffe and abstained or was absent for the vote on Lansley.
• Kenneth Clarke – who voted against the Lords’ amendments on 4^th November, for Hinchliffe and for Lansley in May.
• Julie Kirkbride – who voted against the Lords’ amendments on 4^th November, against Hinchliffe and for Lansley in May.

“Voted against allowing unmarried and homosexual couples to adopt children” covers:

• Edward Leigh – who voted for the Lords’ amendments on 4^th November, and against Hinchliffe and for Lansley in May.
• David Burnside – who voted for the Lords’ amendments on 4^th November, abstained or was absent for the vote on the Hinchliffe amendment and voted for the Lansley amendment in May.
• Anthony Colman – who voted for the Lords’ amendments on 4^th November, and for Hinchliffe and for Lansley in May.
• David Crausby – who voted for the Lords’ amendments on 4^th November, abstained or was absent for the vote on the Hinchliffe amendment and voted against the Lansley amendment in May.
• Jim Dobbin – who voted for the Lords’ amendments on 4^th November, and against Hinchliffe and against Lansley in May.

The Hinchliffe and Lansley amendments in May 2002

For those MPs who abstained or were absent on 4^th November our statement of their position describes their earlier vote(s) on the Hinchliffe and Lansley amendments in May of that year.⁶

Although a procedural device meant that these two votes were held four days apart, the votes on these two amendments can be considered together. A combination of the votes on these two amendments reveals

• MPs against adoption by unmarried heterosexual and homosexual couples,
• MPs who supported adoption by unmarried and homosexual couples, or
• MPs against homosexual adoption, but in favour of adoption by unmarried heterosexual couples.

The Hinchliffe amendment permitted adoption by both unmarried heterosexual and homosexual couples. The subsequent Lansley amendment restricted this to unmarried heterosexual couples only – i.e. it would have prevented homosexual couples adopting children.

MPs who voted for Hinchliffe and who voted against Lansley were voting for allowing both unmarried and homosexual couples to adopt children. Thus: “Voted for allowing unmarried and homosexual couples to adopt children” covers Diane Abbot – who abstained or was absent on 4^th November, and voted for Hinchliffe and against Lansley.

Likewise MPs who voted for Hinchliffe and who abstained or were absent on Lansley were voting for allowing both unmarried and homosexual couples to adopt children. Thus: “Voted for allowing unmarried and homosexual couples to adopt children” covers Irene Adams – who abstained or was absent on 4^th November, voted for Hinchliffe and abstained or was absent on Lansley.

Many MPs voted against Hinchliffe and for Lansley. Their ‘first choice’ was to oppose Hinchliffe. However, the Hinchliffe amendment was passed. Therefore, faced with a Bill that allowed adoption by both unmarried heterosexual and homosexual couples, it was morally right to vote to restrict the provision in any way possible. The final vote on 4^th November provided a decisive opportunity to keep a ‘married couple-only’ provision. In the absence of a vote on the 4^th November, the Lansley amendment provided such a restriction by limiting adoption to heterosexual couples. Thus “Voted against allowing unmarried and homosexual couples to adopt children” covers Sir Stuart Bell – who abstained or was absent on 4^th November, and voted against Hinchliffe and for Lansley.

MPs who voted against Hinchliffe and who abstained or were absent on Lansley were voting against allowing both unmarried and homosexual couples to adopt children. Thus “Voted against allowing unmarried and homosexual couples to adopt children” covers Boris Johnson – who abstained or was absent on 4^th November, voted against Hinchliffe and abstained or was absent on Lansley.

A handful of MPs voted for Hinchliffe and for Lansley. This means they were voting against homosexual couples adopting children, but for adoption by unmarried heterosexual couples. Thus “Voted for allowing unmarried heterosexual couples to adopt children” covers Ian Pearson – who abstained or was absent on 4^th November, voted for Hinchliffe and for Lansley.

Several MPs only cast a vote on the Lansley amendment (they abstained or were absent on both 4^th November and 16^th May).

Such MPs who voted against Lansley were by doing so voting for both unmarried and homosexual couples adopting children. Thus “Voted for allowing unmarried and homosexual couples to adopt children” covers Desmond Browne who abstained or was absent on 4^th November, voted against Lansley and abstained or was absent on Hinchliffe.

MPs who voted for Lansley were voting against homosexual couples adopting children (the purpose of the Lansley amendment). Their view on adoption by unmarried heterosexual couples cannot be ascertained due to their absence on the Hinchliffe vote. Thus “Voted against allowing homosexual couples to adopt children” covers David Atkinson who abstained or was absent on 4^th November, voted for Lansley and abstained or was absent on Hinchliffe.

• ¹E.g. The Daily Telegraph, 4 November 2002; The Guardian, 4 November 2002
• ²E.g. The Guardian, 5 November 2002
• ³Dr Evan Harris MP, House of Commons, Hansard, 4 November 2002, cols 57-59
• ⁴E.g. The Times, 4 November 2002; The Financial Times, 4 November 2002; The Guardian, 4 November 2002
• ⁵E.g. The Times, 5 November 2002; The Daily Telegraph, 5 November 2002
• ⁶This includes, therefore, Conservative MPs who deliberately abstained on 4th November. If such an MP cast a vote on Hinchliffe and/or Lansley in May, those votes are taken to describe their position on adoption.