My Lords, it is a great pleasure to speak in support of these two amendments and to follow the Minister, who has, throughout the six years, made it seem a bit like fun, and so time flew past. Joking aside, her commitment from the very beginning has never been in question.
To put these amendments into context, for nearly 500 years this House routinely passed hateful legislation that damaged, and in many cases destroyed, the lives of gay people. Many of the measures that this House passed, century after century, are well known. The Acts of 1533 and 1855 are now infamous, but a battery of lesser-known laws ensured that gay people were systematically fettered within a vile and oppressive regime of regulation that prevented them living full lives.
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It was only very recently, in 2003, when Parliament undertook a comprehensive reform of sexual offences law. Two very important steps have been taken, in the form of the disregard scheme introduced in 2012 and the pardon scheme introduced in 2017. These schemes are important. They address individual suffering, and they send a clear message to our society and to the world beyond it that we have confronted our shameful history and said “Never again”.
However, the schemes have hitherto been significantly flawed, because they encompass only a small fraction of the criminal offences in England and Wales and the offences covering the British Armed Forces that, over the decades and centuries, have immiserated the lives of gay people. As the noble Baroness, Lady Williams, said, for five years I have worked closely and consistently with my noble friend Lord Lexden and with Professor Paul Johnson at the University of Leeds, who has advised us wisely and without any hesitation. We have worked together to address the limitations of the schemes to bring justice to all those who need and deserve it. We have collaborated on a number of interventions leading to provisions being included in the Policing and Crime Act 2017 and the Armed Forces Act 2021 which have partially resolved problems with the schemes.
As the Minister said, under Amendments 97ZB and 97ZC, which we have worked closely with the Government to create and to which I have proudly added my name alongside that of my noble ally Lord Lexden, the Government are now bringing within the scope of the disregard and pardon schemes all the historical offences that regulated sexual activity between persons of the same sex that would be lawful today. The expanded schemes as outlined in the amendments will now cover repealed criminal offences such as the offence of importuning that was used to entrap gay and bisexual men for sometimes doing nothing more than chatting up another adult man. They will also cover offences in the now repealed service discipline Acts such as that of disgraceful conduct that were once used to prosecute or punish Armed Forces personnel who engaged in consensual same-sex relationships.
As has been said, those living with cautions or convictions for these and other relevant offences will be able to apply for a disregard and, if successful, be pardoned. Those who have, sadly, died will be posthumously pardoned.
No one who was cautioned or convicted in respect of conduct that would be an offence today will be able to obtain a disregard or receive a pardon. The expanded schemes will address solely conduct that today would be entirely lawful.
We are in this matter servants of history. We are the servants of the generations past who suffered under cruel laws and who rightly deserve justice. These amendments will once and for all ensure that every person, alive or dead, who was mistreated by English law solely because of their sexual orientation will have a mechanism through which justice can be delivered. The amendments will wipe away a terrible stain from our history and, crucially, tender our deepest and profound apologies to those who have suffered.
I finish as I began by thanking the Minister and the entire Bill team for their hard work and collaboration. I commend these amendments to your Lordships.