Labour’s new shadow cabinet all voted in favour of same-sex marriage
Labour’s entire new shadow cabinet voted in favour of equal marriage – making Labour the only major UK-wide party with no frontbenchers who voted against.
Left-winger Jeremy Corbyn, who was formally elected to succeed Ed Miliband as Labour Party leader on Saturday, has finished appointing his new team following an exodus of senior shadow ministers, including Yvette Cooper, Chuka Umunna, Liz Kendall and Tristram Hunt.
Of Mr Corbyn’s new team of 26 shadow cabinet ministers and five also-attending-cabinet ministers, every single one voted in favour of the Marriage (Same Sex Couples) Bill that passed through Parliament in 2013.
Labour MPs were granted a conscience vote on the bill, with 22 voting against and 16 abstaining. Of these, 8 opponents and 11 abstainers remain in Parliament today – but zero MPs who failed to vote in favour are present in Mr Corbyn’s cabinet.
Labour is the only UK-wide party to have a frontbench in which every single MP and peer voted for marriage equality.
Seven members of David Cameron’s current frontbench team opposed same-sex marriage, including Defence Secretary Michael Fallon and Culture Secretary John Whittingdale.
Nicky Morgan, Education Secretary and equalities minister, is one of those who voted against same-sex marriage – though she has since changed her mind and told PinkNews last year she would “probably” vote in favour now.
The Liberal Democrat frontbench also includes people who did not vote for equality, with Lib Dem Education spokesperson John Pugh voting against. Lib Dem leader Tim Farron abstained on the third reading and voted against the programme motion – though he told PinkNews earlier this year that he “would vote for [it] now, and probably should have done at the time”.
UKIP’s sole MP Douglas Carswell voted against same-sex marriage – though he was a Conservative at the time. The only Green MP, Caroline Lucas, voted in favour.
