The Sexual Offences Act 1967 is an Act of Parliament in the United Kingdom (citation 1967 c. 60). It legalised homosexual acts in England and Wales, on the condition that they were consensual, in private and between two men who had attained the age of 21. The law was extended to Scotland by the Criminal Justice (Scotland) Act 1980 and to Northern Ireland by the Homosexual Offences (Northern Ireland) Order 1982. Background Homosexual activity between men had been illegal for centuries. There was never an explicit ban on homosexual activity between women. In the 1950s, there was an increase of prosecutions against homosexual men and several well-known figures had been convicted. The government set up a committee led by John Wolfenden to consider the laws on homosexuality. In 1957, the committee published the Wolfenden report, which recommended the decriminalisation of homosexual activity between men above the age of 21. The position was summarised by the committee as follows: "unless a deliberate attempt be made by society through the agency of the law to equate the sphere of crime with that of sin, there must remain a realm of private that is in brief, not the law's business." However, the government of Harold Macmillan did not act upon its recommendations, due to fears of public backlash. In 1965, several politicians sponsored a Sexual Offences Bill, a private member's bill which drew heavily upon the findings of the Wolfenden report. The key sponsors were Humphry Berkeley, a Conservative MP, Leo Abse, a Labour MP, and Lord Arran, a Conservative peer. By that year, public opinion had shifted in favour. A 1965 opinion poll commissioned by the Daily Mail found that 63% of respondents did not believe that homosexuality should be a crime while only 36% agreed it should, even though 93% agreed that homosexual men were "in need of medical or psychiatric treatment." Legislation and debate By 1965, a majority of MPs in the House of Commons were also sympathetic to changing the law. Berkeley's bill passed a second reading 164–107 in February 1966. Its passage was interrupted by the dissolution of Parliament for the 1966 general election. Berkeley lost his seat, but Labour's decisive victory increased the number of MPs who were likely to support the bill. Abse became the bill's main sponsor and he re-introduced the bill. By 1967, the government of Harold Wilson was showing support for the bill.