Gay marriage in Britain

Well, Sinn Fein would back it if the fuckers turned up.

Well, the NI Assembly don't even have civil unions, and this Bill doesn't affect them because its a devolved power, so stuff them.

Yeah but we can't bring that up as the counter response will be the ask what the hell all the Scottish M Ps are doing voting on it, and since the Scottish both outnumber the Irish and are (all most certainly) all in favour, I say we keep our mouths shut on people whose constituents aren't effected voting on the bill (though one Scottish MP did raise the point that it can affect his constituents due to things like Military marriages and additional right for transgender folk).

The Scots will certainly vote in favour. Alex Salmond has said that even if Westminster didn't go for this bill, we'd pass our own version anyway. And since we're more left wing and less tainted by Tory poison, there is no question whatsoever that it would pass.

@ Sil. Shhhhh. Shhhhhh! Shh!

How different is the Marriages (Scotland) (Amendment) Bill to the Marriages (Same-Sex Couples) Bill?

We like to think that. The thing is though - more people voted Tory than Lib Dem in the last pretendy parliament election, and there's plenty of racism and sectarianism in Scotland. Not to mention almighty arsehole Souter and his mates.

edited 5th Feb '13 10:40:09 AM by Achaemenid

I'm not just talking the SNP M Ps, but seeing as Scotland is so much more left wing I doubt anyone up there is going to vote against, The one Conservative must be a "Call me Dave" style modern Conservative, the rest are Lib Dems and Labour and will be on the left of their own parties as well I would think.

It's very nice to see all the gay M Ps talking about this, on both sides of the aisle. How many gay M Ps do we have anyway? Because they seem to have a decentish representation (though I suspect they are over represented with speakers in this debate).

edited 5th Feb '13 10:41:08 AM by Silasw

I think about 20-30 (they never release figures on orientation, for obvious reasons) M Ps are LGBT. Which is 3-5% of the House. Which, actually, is quite representative of the nation as a whole.

Even if the representation doesn't match the votes, the facts remain the same - Scotland is more socially liberal than England, and no vote on the matter would have any trouble passing, either in parliament or a popular vote.

Ahhhh right, you're talking about the passage of the Scotish bill though the Scotish Parliment, I'm taking about the passage of the Westminster bill though the House of Commons and how the Scotish M Ps (not MS Ps) will vote.

They're voting right now. We should know the result in about 10 minutes.

Note to US tropers: the reason it takes so long is because in the British Parliament, MPs vote by physically walking into the division lobbies, an "Aye" room to the right and a "No" room to the left. Why? Tradition.

edited 5th Feb '13 11:10:20 AM by Achaemenid

Right the vote is over, results will be in shortly. Keep in mind that this is not the final vote for the house and even if it passes the house it still has to pass the lords.

I was talking about both, really.

That the Scots would pass their own bill in Holyrood anyway (I tend to assume that on this issue Scottish M Ps and MS Ps think rather alike) is evidence that the former will vote in favour of the current bill in Westminster.

edited 5th Feb '13 11:13:40 AM by CaissasDeathAngel

400 for and 175 against, it's passed. Onto the next stage.

Whoo!

Said next stage first being a timetabling motion for further consideration of the bill.

Keep in mind that some of those votes will switch at the 3rd reading unless they are satisfied at committee stage, however they may be some no votes that go yes at the 3rd reading if someone is done to placate them in committee. So really we can consider this though the house now, it's the question of getting it though The Lords now. If anyone is still watching then you will note that they are now voting on extra time for consideration of the bill.

edited 5th Feb '13 11:20:33 AM by Silasw

Correct.

This bill is all but through the House. All we need to do is wait for the Lords to hopefully stop being old fogies in time for it to be rammed through.

Cameron got less than half his party to stand with him. 139 pricks Tories against, 132 for.

How did you get the party numbers so fast?

He's Ach, bro. He doesn't need to 'plain nutin.

edited 5th Feb '13 11:27:59 AM by Inhopelessguy

The Guardian's liveblog. There's some doubt about the numbers though, another source put it at 140 against.

BBC link to the result.

Fucking curbstomp!

I actually read the Bill.

I had a lot of free time today in sixth-form.

But indeed, fuck yes.

You can also just listen to it live here, including hearing the votes be announced as they are.

I think that disparity comes because both numbers were in fact read out, possibly for different things. I don't actually know what the numbers mean, though.