STOP AGE OF CONSENT BEING IGNORED

News

The Government’s Crime and Policing Bill contains a so-called ‘Romeo and Juliet’ clause, which states that teachers and other professionals don’t need to report sexual activity between under-16s if they judge it to be consensual. In effect, officials are being told again that they can ignore the age of consent – and a 17-year-old sleeping with a 13-year-old could slip through the net.

The Crime and Policing Bill is still working its way through Parliament. The ‘Romeo and Juliet’ clause (Clause 48) was approved in Committee on 8 April, but it must still pass Report Stage and Third Reading in the Commons and then go through the House of Lords. MPs can still delete or amend it if they hear from constituents now.

The Family Education Trust warns the clause “romanticises under-age sex” and risks normalising sexual relationships for 13 to 15-year-olds. Instead of safeguarding children, the clause signals that early teen sex is acceptable, provided a busy teacher thinks no harm is done.

A culture of sex before marriage already dominates. In 2023, the legal minimum age for marriage rose to 18 – a move hailed as protecting children – yet the age of consent stayed at 16. Ministers now propose sending the message that sex below that threshold is not a concern. The new morality is obvious: “wait for marriage” is replaced with “experiment early”.

Early sex reduces the likelihood of future marriage success. The evidence is clear: each additional sexual partner before marriage raises the odds of divorce. A 2023 Institute for Family Studies analysis found that men and women with one to eight premarital partners face about a 50 % higher risk of marital breakdown compared with those who marry their first partner; the risk soars for nine or more partners. Hook up culture also correlates with higher rates of depression and anxiety among adolescents.

Strip away the protective boundary of a firm age of consent law and we accelerate a cycle that leaves young adults less able to form the stable, committed marriages our society desperately needs.

What you can do

1. Email your MP today. Urge them to vote to delete Clause 48 (“Exception for certain consensual sexual activities between children”, i.e. the ‘Romeo and Juliet exemption’) from the Crime and Policing Bill while it is still before Parliament and to uphold the current age of consent law in full. You can look up your MP’s details and send a message at (https://www.writetothem.com/) – just enter your postcode and follow the prompts.
2. Share the facts. Early sexual activity increases divorce risk and harms mental health; raising marriage age while loosening consent laws is incoherent.
3. Forward this email to church and community leaders, school governors and youth work contacts. Children deserve better than a policy that quietly encourages under-age sex. At C4M, we know real marriage between one man and one woman gives children the best possible start in life. Parliament should be reinforcing that truth, not eroding it. Please act today—for the sake of our youth and the future of marriage.