An early day motion from Helen Hayes calling on the UK government to take a tougher stance against Brunei after the state made gay sex punishable by stoning to death has now had the backing of more than 70 of her parliamentary colleagues.
The Dulwich and West Norwood MP’s bill urges the government to ‘exert pressure and influence upon Brunei and all commonwealth nations to protect the rights of LGBT+ people and other minority groups’. The south-east Asian nation’s new penal code came into force on April 3 to widespread condemnation.
At the time of writing, Hayes’ campaign had been backed by 76 MPs and achieved cross-party support with the SNP, Liberal Democrats, the Green Party’s Caroline Lucas and the DUP signatories; but only two from the Conservative Party.