| Previous Section | Index | Home Page |
Dr. Harris: That is a separate point from the one that I wished to make, and the hon. Gentleman might care to ask the Minister to comment. I reiterate that I support new clause 2, because I tabled an amendment along similar lines in Committee. It is of paramount importance to protect the young from any question of committing an offence. Criminalising the victim as a way of preventing him from being victimised is a unique concept, if not in the hon. Gentleman's mind then certainly in British law. The European Commission of Human Rights pointed out that the criminalisation of the young person is inappropriate, whether it is in order to try to deter a criminal from victimising that younger person or because the act in question is viewed as an abomination, which is the origin of the law.
Without new clause 2, homosexuals would not have a defence that they were misled about the age of the younger person, but heterosexuals would. Young females do not generally blackmail their older partners in cases in which they have reasonable cause to believe that the older person is above the age of consent and can prove that to a jury. The hon. Member for Hertsmere believes that the age of consent will soon be equal--although he does not support equalisation himself--and he called for more prosecutions. He drew attention to what he believed was a fall in the number of prosecutions for age of consent offences and said that he believed that that was related to the lowering of the age of consent for homosexuals in 1994. There is no evidence to support that conclusion but, fortunately, there have been few prosecutions for consenting sex with a person aged under 16 if it does not involve explicit abuse or exploitation. The Minister said that he was sympathetic to the argument that there had been too few prosecutions. If we are to have more prosecutions, but no statutory defence is available to the hundreds of young gay men who might be brought before the courts after a clampdown and more raids on gay venues--where people pretend to be above the age of 16, and 18--the Bill will mean that many more gay men are prosecuted than heterosexual men. By definition, there will also be more convictions because, once the facts about the ages and the act are established, homosexuals will have no defence, except in Scotland. Therefore, new clause 2 should be welcomed, because it will protect young people and end discrimination. If it is not included in the Bill, we will see increased and discriminatory prosecution, conviction and imprisonment of young gay men compared to young heterosexual men.
If it is acceptable for heterosexuals to have that defence, and acceptable for homosexuals in Scotland--the Government seem to think it acceptable to allow a broader defence in cases of abuse of trust, in circumstances in which it could be argued that the defence should be narrower--why cannot the Minister accept new clause 2? It is not too late, because the Bill could be amended in the other place to give protection, until the review reports, to homosexuals, as exists for heterosexuals, who have been misled about the age of their partners. That would offer protection against blackmail. The onus is on the Government to show why they will not accept such a change to the Bill. Whenever the Government are pressed on a matter that they feel may have some validity but about which they consider that it would not be politically expedient to pronounce, they set up a review without a commitment to legislation. They say that any suggestions for legislation should go into that review. The problem with the review is that the outcome is out of the Government's control; if legislation is introduced, it may be under a different Government with a different view. The general case is that putting a matter to review is not an excuse not to legislate, especially when the discrimination involved has existed for more than 100 years.
The review is welcome. It was announced during consideration of the Crime and Disorder Bill, in response to my suggestions and those from hon. Members of all parties, when an amendment was tabled to tackle the discriminatory privacy provision. At the Dispatch Box, the Minister's predecessor, now the Secretary of State for Wales, said that a review would be needed to deal with all the issues.
However, there is no timetable for when the review must report to the Government, nor for when the Government will introduce legislation. We have heard
that the review will take a year, and that it will involve the widest possible consultation, which is envisaged to last at least a year. Even if the Government last the maximum five years, we will then be running up to the next general election.
Therefore, I think that the Minister will concede that he envisages no chance of legislation before the next election. I do not doubt the review's ability to come up with non-discriminatory measures, but I have set out why I believe that the Government will not introduce legislation where there is a clear danger that it will worsen the problem of blackmail.
My second concern about the review is that the Minister does not accept that there is gross discrimination in the existing law. I have listened attentively to his contributions, both on the Floor and in Committee. He has said that there are undoubted anomalies and inconsistencies in the law, and that they relate to the area between heterosexuals and homosexuals. However, he has not said that there is discrimination in the law, other than in one small area. Yet that discrimination exists, in sentencing, statutory defence, and other matters.
Will the review be independent? The review of the abuse of trust provisions contained an interesting paragraph. As I recall, it stated that the review group was minded not to include a particular group in the provisions, but that, after discussions with Ministers, it was recommending that group's inclusion. To me, that seems to mean that Ministers told the Home Office review group that they must recommend that inclusion in the provisions, which I believe had to do with educational institutions.
If this current review group is similar, what is to prevent Ministers from saying that it is not independent in terms of what it can produce? The Government will not want it to make recommendations that they do not find politically expedient. There are no votes in the reform of sexual offences law, and certainly not in measures to eradicate discrimination. That is in part why the words of the hon. Member for Hertsmere were so welcome.
My final concern about the review, as an excuse for not legislating on this matter, is that there is nothing to stop the Minister putting any of the provisions in the Bill forward for consideration. He has said already that sentencing provisions--discussed in Committee and to be discussed again today--and other matters will be subject to the review, even though there has already been a wide review of sexual offences and measures covering registers of sexual offenders for legislation that has been introduced to date.
It is vital that the Government should accept that the current law is discriminatory. They made a manifesto commitment to tackle unjustified discrimination wherever it existed. It clearly exists in the criminal law relating to homosexuals. The Government must accept that the law is already discriminatory, and must allow the review fully to end discrimination through its recommendations, without any interference from Ministers. I hope that the Minister will give me that assurance today.
The Minister wants a climate in which there is less tolerance of age-of-consent offences--a wish that is widely shared in the House. However, until there is equality in terms of statutory defences, then a tightening of the law and an increase in prosecutions will mean differential prosecution, conviction and imprisonment of homosexuals. We would be back to where we were before 1967. I commend new clause 2 to the House, and I urge the Minister to respond positively to my points, and to give a commitment that we will not go down the path towards blackmail and discrimination.
Mr. Swayne:
I acknowledge that the Minister believes that there are overwhelming reasons why we should accept new clause 4. However, I suspect, as I have suspected for some time, that I live on a different planet from the Minister. I believe that there are overwhelming reasons why new clause 4 should be rejected.
| Next Section
| Index | Home Page |