HC Deb 03 December 1987 vol 123 cc1091-2
6. Mr. Hind

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what plans he has to seek to amend the Obscene Publications Act; and if he will make a statement.

Mr. Renton

We shall ask Parliament, as promised in our manifesto, to remove from the Obscene Publications Act 1959 the exemption for broadcasting.

Mr. Hind

I am much obliged to my hon. Friend for his response. Is he aware that there is widespread concern in the country that at the moment the Obscene Publications Act applies only to the written word? Should not urgent consideration be given to extending it to the visual media, particularly bearing in mind the amount of violence on television, from which many criminals get their ideas, since violent crime is essentially imitative?

Mr. Renton

I should make the point to my hon. Friend that the Obscene Publications Act is by no means a dead letter. Between 1980 and 1986 there were nearly 1,800 convictions for offences under the Act. We intend to remove the broadcasting exemption and incorporate it into the Broadcasting Bill, which we shall bring before Parliament as soon as we can. Unfortunately, that will not be during this Session but we shall do it as soon as we can.

Mr. Cryer

When the Minister produces this exemption, will he bear in mind the number of occasions when the Prime Minister appears on television supporting the building of Trident at a cost of £11 billion, which involves a threat of mass extermination of millions of men, women and children—

Mr. Speaker

Order. The hon. Gentleman might have been more in order on the last question, not on this one.

Mr. Cryer

Murder is obscene.

Mr. Speaker

Order. The hon. Gentleman knows perfectly well what the rules are.

Mr. Renton

The hon. Gentleman's remarks remind us that the extreme Left is alive and kicking. It is doubtless that sort of remark that the broadcasting authorities will have to think about when deciding about the televising of Parliament.

Mr. Robert G. Hughes

Is my hon. Friend aware that his answer to the main question about the extension of the Obscene Publications Act will be welcomed in my constituency, where it is considered essential? When my hon. Friend meets representatives of the BBC and IBA, will he remind them that Mr. Michael Grade — who seems to straddle both organisations — was recently converted to the extension of the Obscence Publications Act, and will he recommend that the authorities should support what my right hon. Friend is doing in the House?

Mr. Renton

I thank my hon. Friend for that support. I have noted what he said about the conversion of Mr. Michael Grade to this point of view. There is a general wish among Conservative Members to remove the exemption for broadcasting authorities from the Obscene Publications Act as soon as we can.

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