Topic 2: liberal reforming legislation (1964-70) Flashcards
3
Describe Jenkins as Home Sec (1965-67)
- From Dec 1965
- Most liberal Home Sec until that point
- Gave sufficient parliamentary time to PMBs
3
Describe Liberal reforming legislation/PMBs
- Wilson/Brown socially conservative
- Lab MPs not whipped
- Can be argued laws progressed further than society
3 (with MP)
List PMBs (1964-70)
- Murder Act 1965 - Lab backbencher Sydney Silverman
- Abortion Act 1967 - Liberal MP David Steel
- Sexual Offences Act 1967 - Lab backbencher Leo Abse
2
List government-led liberal reforming legislation (1964-70)
- Divorce Reform Act 1969
- Circular 10/65 (not strictly legislation)
5
Describe liberal reforming legislation to end capital punishment
- Murder (Abolition of Death Penalty) Act 1965 - PMB by Sydney Silverman
- Abolsihed hanging for trial of 5 years
- Made permanent by Callaghan (Home Sec) in 1969
- Beating of prisoners ceased after 1967
- Legsialtion did not lead to spike in murder/violent crime
2
Describe limits to the liberal reforming legislation to end capital punishment
- Calls for stricter laws against ‘malicious damage’
- Across 60’s, 61% to 82% of population in favour of tougher sentencing
3 (inc its effects)
Describe liberal reforming legislation for divorce reform
- Until 60s, divorce required evidence that one party had committed adultery -> hard to prove
- Divorce Reform Act 1969 (Govt legislation) allowed for divorce following the ‘irretrievable breakdown’ of a marriage (with restrictions)
- Huge increase in divorces in England and Wales: 0.2% in 1950 to 1% in mid-1970s
4
Describe limits to liberal reforming legislation for divorce reform
- Restrictions to legislation: together for 2 years and both partners wnat divorce; together for 5 years and one partner wants divorce
- Considerable Conservative opposition
- Only 30-40% of public in favour of making divorce easier
- Greater female independence was arguably larger contributor to increase in divorces
5
Describe problems in abortion until 1967
- Until 1967, abortion was illegal (except on strictly medical grounds)
- Between 100k and 200k illegal abortions were performed each year
- 35k went to hospital as a result each year
- Between 1958-60, 82 women died from complications
- Thalidomide disaster of 1959-62 that strengthened their case
6
Describe liberal reforming legislation to legalise abortion
- Abortion Act 1967 - PMB by Liberal MP David Steel
- allowed legal termination within 28 weeks
- justification needed was ‘mental suffering’, not physical condition
- supported by Lab govt and number of Conservatives
- Steel had hoped more effective contraception and better education would limit abortions
- Number of abortions increased from 4% in 1968 to 18% in 1975
3
Describe limits to liberal reforming legislation to legalise abortion
- In 1966, the Society for the Protection of the Unborn Child set up
- Would oppose any liberalisation
- Fearted it would lead to abortion on demand
3
Describe problems in homosexual relations until 1967
- Men could be imprisoned for up to 2 years for participation in such acts
- Conservatives had rejected Wolfenden Report 1957 to decriminalise homosexuality
- Labour government of 1964 divided on issue
3
Describe liberal reforming legislation to legalise homosexual relations
- Sexual Offences Act 1967 - PMB by Leo Abse
- Passed with Jenkins support - described it as an ‘important and civilising measure’
- Decriminalised homosexual acts (where both partners consented, both were 21 years old, and was in private)
3
Describe limits to liberal reforming legislation to legalise homosexual relations
- Age of consent set at 21 - heterosexual consent age stood at 16
- ‘in private’ interpreted as no one else being in the building and so prosecutions continued
- homosexuality not decriminalised by Act, just permitted where certain conditions were met
7
Describe liberal reforming legislation for comprehensive schools
- Seen as root cause of social inequality
- By 1964, 10% of pupils in comprehesive schools (10x as many in 1951)
- Crossland (Education Sec) issued Circular 10/65 in 1965
- LEAs requested to convert to comprehensive system
- In 1966, Crossland made additional funding conditional on conversion
- by 1970, only 8 authorities had failed to do so
- By 1970, ⅓ of all secondary pupils were in 1145 comprehensive schools
Circulars are not legally binding, but many LEAs responded to it
LEA - Local Education Authorities (ran schools in some areas)