What is really going on in politics? Get our daily email briefing straight to your inbox Sign up Thank you for subscribing We have more newsletters Show me See our privacy notice Invalid Email

MPs have voted in favour of legalising abortion in Northern Ireland in a landmark change.

The Commons backed the cross-party proposal by 332 votes to 99.

Stella Creasy, Labour MP for Walthamstow, lead efforts to extend access to abortion in Northern Ireland.

She piggybacked off the Northern Ireland bill requiring the Northern Ireland Secretary to make regulations to give effect to recommendations from a report.

The regulations would have to come into force by October 21 unless an Executive is formed before this date.

A second cross-party proposal to legalise same-sex marriage in Northern Ireland and put forward by Conor McGinn was passed by 383 votes to 73.

It means Westminster will be required to legalise same-sex marriage in Northern Ireland if a new Stormont Executive is not formed by October 21 2019.

The Westminster government has come under pressure to bring legislation in Northern Ireland with the rest of the UK after the Republic of Ireland voted in referendums to legalise both abortion and same sex marriage.

But Downing Street insist both issues are matters for the devolved administration in Stormont which hasn’t sat for more than two and a half years.

Today Number 10 said they were allowing MPs a free vote as abortion is considered a matter of conscience.

Calling for reform Ms Creasy said today: "I am a passionate defender of women's rights, I believe powerfully that if women are not able to have equal control over their bodies as men are then we will never have true freedom.

"If we say to women we will force you to continue an unwanted pregnancy, they will always be second class citizens to male counterparts."

In February 2018, CEDAW found that Northern Ireland’s women are "subjected to grave and systematic violations of rights through being compelled to either travel outside Northern Ireland to procure a legal abortion or to carry their pregnancy to term."

While in June 2018, the UK Supreme Court found that the law was in need of ‘radical reconsideration’ and ‘treated women like vehicles’.

The UK’s most senior judges found that the law breached human rights in the cases of sexual violence and fatal fetal anomalies.

Ms Creasy said the UN torture committee has "censured" the UK over abortion rules in Northern Ireland, saying the way women are treated is "torturous".

(Image: PA)

She added: "At this moment in time, if somebody is raped in Northern Ireland and they become pregnant and they seek a termination, they will face a longer prison sentence than their attacker."

Ms Creasy added: "I ask the House, how much longer are the women of Northern Ireland expected to wait? How much more are they expected to suffer until we speak up for the best of what this place does as human rights defenders, not human rights deniers?"

Labour shadow Northern Ireland minister Karin Symth promised that any future Labour government would legalise abortion in the province.

She told MPs: "The women in Northern Ireland are being caught in this absurd political ping pong across the Irish Sea.

"It is simply time for it to come to an end."

The 1861 Offences Against the Person Act, which makes obtaining or helping somebody obtain an abortion a criminal offence, is still applicable in Northern Ireland but not the rest of the UK.

DUP MP Ian Paisley said relaxing abortion laws would lead to an increase in "unregulated abortions" and said the "right to life" needs to be upheld.

Mr Paisley said: "There is no right under the international treaties to terminate an unborn life, that is the fact of the matter, and we have got to make sure that that right, the right to life, is upheld."

A number of other MPs raised constitutional objections to the changes.

SNP MP Stewart McDonald said he did not like Westminster interfering with devolved matters, adding: "But there's no point in the Scottish National Party trying to out Sinn Fein Sinn Fein on these matters when they themselves have said that it'd be entirely appropriate."

He said he wished the Northern Ireland assembly could take the decision on same-sex marriage but added: "We are where we are - and I couldn't go back to my constituency, I couldn't look another person from Northern Ireland who wants to see this change in the eye ever again if I was to abstain or not seek to advance the cause of equality - an equality I myself can enjoy, every member of this House can enjoy, that they themselves cannot."

Following the vote Grainne Teggart, Amnesty International’s Northern Ireland Campaign Manager, said: “This is a significant defining moment for women’s rights in Northern Ireland. The Government must now put into law the recommendations from CEDAW, which includes the decriminalisation of abortion.

“The grave harm and suffering under Northern Ireland’s abortion regime are finally coming to an end. At a time when prosecutions are still a grim reality, this cannot happen quickly enough.”

Humanists UK Director of Public Affairs and Policy Richy Thompson said: ‘Today’s votes are a landmark moment for the human rights of women and LGBT people in Northern Ireland. We are delighted that the coordinated effort of so many campaigners and MPs has now led to MPs voting to correct these longstanding wrongs.

‘In a compassionate, rational society, people should be free to live as they wish, so long as they do no harm to others. That means legalising same-sex marriage and providing women a right to choose on abortion. Today’s votes potentially represent a huge step towards seeing that society become reality.’