Ed Miliband announced today that a Labour government who pass the so called ‘Turing Law’ to allow posthumous pardons to be granted to gay men convicted under indecency laws on application by their friends and family.

Last week we reported that the family of Alan Turing, who was convicted in 1952 in Manchester for gross indecency.

The Labour leader said ‘what was right for Alan Turing’s family should be right for other families as well’

“The next Labour government will extend the right individuals already have to overturn convictions that society now see as grossly unfair to the relatives of those convicted who have passed away.”

The legislation proposal has stumbled in recent weeks as the government has had concerns that any general posthumous pardons could include men who had been convicted of gross indecency to minors.

Many cases would not have mentioned the age of those involved prior to 1967 when legislation was brought in which legalised gay relationships between consenting males then over the age of 21.

Turing was only given a royal pardon in 2013, nearly 60 years after his death by suicide in 1954 and followed an official apology by former prime minister Gordon Brown in 2009 for how Mr Turing had been treated. 

Relatives of Mr Turing have led a high-profile campaign to secure pardons for the 49,000 other men convicted under historical indecency laws.

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