Dr Lewis

Shadow defence minister Dr Julian Lewis has written in a letter to a constituent saying that bringing down the gay age of consent in 2000 has led to an increase in HIV infection.

In the letter Dr Lewis said:
"When it comes to legalising practices that involve serious risk, I believe the higher limit should apply. This is the reason we no longer allow 16 and 17-year-old into front-line situations in the Armed Forces, for example."

Labour Home Secretary Alan Johnson has called on Tory leader David Cameron to sack Dr Lewis.

Lisa Power, Head of Policy at Terrence Higgins Trust, said:
"Gay men diagnosed with HIV in the UK are more likely to be in their 30s than at school. But young gay men still need to know how to protect themselves from HIV and other infections. Introducing compulsory sex and relationships education would have made a huge difference, and we were very disappointed to see these proposals recently dropped.

"Criminalising sex among young gay men will not stop them having it, although it may stop them coming to us for information and advice. In our experience, simply telling teenagers not to do something usually has the opposite effect."