MPs have voted in favour of legalising abortion in Northern Ireland after a number of Tory ministers broke ranks to back demands for change, creating a potential headache for Theresa May.

The House of Commons voted by 208 votes to 123 in favour of a bill introduced by Labour MP Diana Johnson that seeks to scrap 157-year-old laws that make the practice illegal.

The laws no longer affect women in England, Scotland and Wales because of changes that were made in 1967, but continue to apply in Northern Ireland.

While Ms Johnson’s bill is unlikely to become law, the vote highlights support in the Commons for bringing the law in Northern Ireland in line with the rest of the UK.

It is also likely to cause a major headache for Ms May, who has insisted that the controversial changes are a matter for the Northern Ireland executive.

But the backing of ministers including Penny Mordaunt, the women and equalities minister, for Ms Johnson’s bill reveals a split at the heart of government and will pile pressure on the prime minister to act.

Any move to change the law would place her firmly on a collision course with the DUP, which is propping up her government. The Northern Irish party is fiercely anti-abortion and had insisted that any changes are a matter for the devolved government.

Matters are complicated further by the fact that the Stormont assembly in Belfast has not sat since January 2017 after power-sharing collapsed.

Northern Irish women protesting anti-abortion laws take illegal pills Show all 8 1 /8 Northern Irish women protesting anti-abortion laws take illegal pills Northern Irish women protesting anti-abortion laws take illegal pills Campaigners intervene after police try to lead away one of the three women (centre with sunglasses) who publicly took an abortion pill during a demonstration outside Belfast's Crown and High Courts, where counter-demonstrations were held by both sides of the Northern Irish abortion argument. PA Northern Irish women protesting anti-abortion laws take illegal pills Police officers watch on from close by as abortion rights campaign group ROSA, Reproductive Rights Against Oppression, Sexism and Austerity hold a protest in Belfast Getty Northern Irish women protesting anti-abortion laws take illegal pills Eleanor Crossey Malone takes an abortion pill as abortion rights campaign group ROSA, Reproductive Rights Against Oppression, Sexism and Austerity distribute abortion pills Getty Northern Irish women protesting anti-abortion laws take illegal pills Ruth Coppinger TD addresses the crowds outside Belfast's Crown and High Courts where counter-demonstrations were held by both sides of the Northen Irish abortion argument. PA Northern Irish women protesting anti-abortion laws take illegal pills Eleanor Crossey Malone displays an abortion pill packet after taking a pill Getty Northern Irish women protesting anti-abortion laws take illegal pills Protestors dressed as hand maidens stand as abortion rights campaign group ROSA, Reproductive Rights Against Oppression, Sexism and Austerity distribute abortion pills from a touring bus Getty Northern Irish women protesting anti-abortion laws take illegal pills An unidentified woman takes an abortion pill as abortion rights campaign group ROSA, Reproductive Rights Against Oppression, Sexism and Austerity distribute abortion pills from a touring bus Getty Images Northern Irish women protesting anti-abortion laws take illegal pills A robot drone delivers abortion pills as abortion rights campaign group ROSA, Reproductive Rights Against Oppression, Sexism and Austerity distribute abortion pills Getty

Ms Johnson is hoping to change the law through a 10 minute rule bill, although she is likely to need government support if she is to succeed.

She told the Commons: “Abortion in our country is underpinned by the oldest legal framework for any healthcare treatment, with the harshest criminal sentence in the developed world for women having an illegal abortion.

“Our current abortion law dates back to the Offences Against the Person Act 1861 – a time when Queen Victoria was on the throne and women were still decades away from getting the right to vote.”

Under that law, she said, anyone having an abortion or helping someone to do so can be sent to prison for life.

In addition to Ms Mordaunt, Home Office minister Victoria Atkins and sports minister Tracey Crouch also voted in favour of the bill, as did health minister Caroline Dinenage and transport minister Jo Johnson.

Calls for changes to the law in Northern Ireland grew louder after the Republic of Ireland voted in a referendum in May to abolish its ban on the practice.

Speaking after the Commons vote, Ms May’s official spokesman suggested Ms Johnson’s bill was unlikely to receive the government backing it will need to become law.

He said: “It is a Private Member’s Bill which will proceed in the usual Private Member’s Bill way.”