CONSERVATIVE
New Forest East

HOMOSEXUAL AGE OF CONSENT - 25 January 1999

HOMOSEXUAL AGE OF CONSENT - 25 January 1999

Dr Julian Lewis: The answer to the hon. Gentleman's [David Borrow's] question is surely that he misunderstands the role of the age of consent. The purpose of the age of consent is not to criminalise people below it, but to protect people below it by criminalising the activities of people above it. The fact that nobody below it is prosecuted should reassure the people below it; we do not want to reassure the predators above the age of consent by lowering it.