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The Government (in the form of Jack Straw, the Justice Secretary) wants to make an amendment to the Criminal Justice Bill currently before Parliament so that it covers a section covering homophobic hate crime. All fine and dandy I think you’ll agree, but I just want to point out two things:
- As of 16:00 BST Monday (as I type this), the Government has not published the amendment. You can check this out here.
- However, Stonewall, the UK gay rights lobbyist, has a slot booked late tomorrow afternoon in front of the committee discussing the bill. The Lawyers Christian Fellowship who have concerns about any amendment (though I think they doth protest too much at times) do not.
Is it in order for the Government to privilege Stonewall in this way? When will the Government be publishing its amendment? This evening? Tomorrow morning? Is it fair that it has already lined up one of the interested parties in this matter to speak, but not the opposing view?
October 15th, 2007 at 7:39 pm
Have you seen Matthew Parris’ article about this for the Times? Well worth a read.