Instead, MPs and Peers agreed to delegate the drafting of regulations to a Government minister, which paved the way for a lengthy public consultation[5][6] followed by months of Cabinet wrangling.

In a statement released from 10 Downing Street on 29 January 2007, Tony Blair said he had considered their objections carefully, but in his view there was no place for discrimination.

[11] The votes against came mostly Conservatives, plus ten Labour Members (Joe Benton, Tom Clarke, Frank Cook, Jim Dobbin, David Drew, Peter Kilfoyle, Jim McGovern, Alan Meale, Geraldine Smith, and David Taylor), together with four Liberal Democrats (Alan Beith, Colin Breed, Tim Farron, and Bob Russell).

He supported efforts to have Catholic adoption agencies exempted from sexual orientation regulations, which were ultimately unsuccessful in a judgement given on 21 July 2010.

[citation needed] Further to this, the House of Lords was still considering an exemption to the legislation that would let religious agencies abide by their belief-based proscriptions regarding the employment of active homosexuals.