Excellent news of a Lib Dem victory reaches the Voice:
Liberal Democrat peer, John Sharkey, whose Private Member’s Bill was instrumental in securing a pardon for Alan Turing, has today reached an agreement with the Government which will grant a posthumous pardon to thousands of gay and bisexual men convicted under long abolished sexual offence laws. Those similarly convicted but still alive will also receive pardons if they have successfully applied for a disregard or in future successfully apply for a disregard under the Protection of Freedoms Act.
The Government will add their name to the Liberal Democrat amendment to the Policing and Crime Bill that when passed will finally grant this pardon to thousands of people.
This has been a long fought campaign for the Liberal Democrats who first raised the issue in the Houses of Parliament in the early days of Coalition Government and which has since gained momentum amongst parliamentarians from all parties.
Commenting on the news that the Government will support the Liberal Democrat amendment, the author of the amendment, Lord Sharkey said:
“This is a momentous day for thousands of families up and down the UK who have been campaigning on this issue for decades. I am very grateful for the Government’s support and the support of many of my colleagues in Parliament.
It is a wonderful thing that we have been able to build on the pardon granted to Alan Turing during Coalition by extending it to the thousands of men convicted of sexual offences that existed before homosexuality was decriminalised in 1967 and which would not be crimes today.”
Leader of the Liberal Democrats, Tim Farron MP added:
“The Liberal Democrats continue to be the strongest voice on equality in Parliament. This was a manifesto commitment which even in opposition, thanks to the tireless work of our MPs and peers and those from other parties, we have been able to deliver on.”
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7 Comments
A Sensible Policy for a Happier Britain.
This only grants a pardon to dead people. SNP MP John Nicholson’s private member’s bill goes further and grants a pardon to those still living who have been convicted of such offences that are no longer illegal today. It is difficult to see what moral difference being dead makes.
I’m not convinced that this is sensible. I don’t like the idea of judging the past on today’s mores. If attitudes change again will we reconvict.
The Italian government should pardon all those Christians they threw to the lions.
I think this is a special case.
If, for instance, cannabis is legalised in the future I would never argue to pardon those convicted of possession before the law changed. No one is born with an inate need to smoke cannabis, and those who do so are exercising a choice to break the law.
However, your sexuality is fundamental to who you are and is not a choice. A law that attempted to force people to deny their very nature is a particular kind of wrong, and pardons are absolutely correct in this case. Preferably for the living as well as the dead.
Al, I think the big difference is that, for people who are alive, being pardoned for an offence doesn’t actually remove any criminal record you have in relation to that offence. For those who are alive, the most important thing would be to have the offence “disregarded” (i.e. deleted from your criminal record) which you can apply to do through the Protection of Freedoms Act 2012. Lord Storey’s amendments would, in fact, also pardon all people who are alive and who have had their convictions disregarded by the Protection of Freedoms Act 2012. But there would be no point “disregarding” the convictions of the dead because dead people don’t have any criminal record.
Richard, why should the living have to jump through extra legal hoops that dead don’t have to? Having to jump through the Freedoms Act hoop discriminates against the living. What about someone who is alive but also has some other mental health condition that prevents them jumping through that loop? As far as I can tell, as I am not a legal expert, the Freedoms Act only allows people to apply to the Secretary of State to have a conviction disregarded. It puts no obligation on the Secretary of State to grant a disregard.
As it is, Westminster fillibustered John Nicholson’s bill today to prevent any debate or vote. Westminster is an illiberal and unreformable disgrace.