A Christian group is planning to take court action against several local councils in England for allegedly breaching the ban on council funding that “promotes” homosexuality.
The Christian Institute, an evangelical organisation based in Newcastle, is already backing a nurse’s civil action against Glasgow City Council in the first case in Britain where a council has been accused in court of contravening Section 28 of the Local Government Act.The case has been timed to coincide with a privately funded referendum of four million Scots on proposals before the Scottish Parliament to repeal Section 28, which are likely to be passed by early July.The nurse, Sheena Strain, has been accused by gay rights groups of putting lives at risk. Her petition was lodged last week, forcing the council to freeze a large part of £85,000 in funding for six groups.The groups, which include a charity called Phace West, provide care support and befriending schemes for people with HIV and Aids, distribute health promotion advice to gay men, and run crisis helplines. Funding to the Glasgay arts festival has also been suspended.Mrs Strain claims the groups have used the council’s funds to promote homosexuality and produce “pornographic” literature and website information on gay sex.The council said it will “vigorously defend” its conduct. “The council believes it has acted legally throughout,” a spokesman said. “Most of the money has gone towards social work, counselling and supporting services.”Colin Hart, director of the Christian Institute, said yesterday his organisation planned to mount similar civil actions against two or three English local authorities if Mrs Strain wins her case.The institute, founded 10 years ago, has played a large part in the successful attempts by Baroness Young in the House of Lords to stop the Government repealing Section 28 in England and Wales by giving clerical and legal support.Ministers are now poised to delay repeal of the measure until after the next election.Mr Hart refused to name the councils concerned, but said: “We don’t have to look very far. There are a lot of cases on our files and we’re certainly considering England as well.”The institute’s legal advisers are also hoping to prove that health boards are acting ultra vires by funding and distributing gay and lesbian literature. Health boards are exempt from Section 28, but Mr Hart claimed their actions stray beyond strict health protection.Charlie MacMillan, director of Phace West, said the loss of funding could “disastrously affect” its services to more than 300 people who are HIV-positive and those at risk of infection.

“We won’t have the staff we need if the funding is suspended for longer than three months,” he said.Angela Mason, director of the lobby group Stonewall, said: “This case shows where the institute is coming from.They’re unlikely to be successful in the courts, but what they’re trying to do is put the fear of God into everybody and make it almost impossible for any public body to fund work involving lesbians and gay men.”. The prosecution would be able to appeal against sentences for all but the most minor crimes under plans to be announced by William Hague today. The prosecution would be able to appeal against sentences for all but the most minor crimes under plans to be announced by William Hague today.
The Tory leader will raise the stakes in the battle with Labour over law and order by promising to crack down on “lenient” sentences passed by the courts. At present, the prosecution can appeal against the courts’ decisions on serious offences including murder and rape.

A future Tory government would extend the right to all offences which are tried in the Crown Courts, such as grievous bodily harm, actual bodily harm and racially aggravated offences.Mr Hague will announce his proposals in a speech to the Police Federation conference in Brighton, calling the package “the most concerted attempt by any British political party to challenge the failed post-war liberal consensus and to win the war against crime.”His plans will be seen as an attempt to trump the review of sentencing announced on Tuesday by the Home Secretary, which is likely to result in persistent offenders being jailed at an earlier stage rather than be given a string of community-based punishments.Mr Hague will argue that the only period when crime fell consistently was during the closing stages of the last Tory government. “The rising tide of disorder and lawlessness is caused by liberal culture that treats crime as an abstract problem, and treats criminals as the victims rather than the scourge of society,” he will say.. Law graduates are being offered starting salaries of £100,000 in an increasingly bitter recruitment war being waged between American and English law firms in the City. Law graduates are being offered starting salaries of £100,000 in an increasingly bitter recruitment war being waged between American and English law firms in the City.
The £100,000 wage will be paid to graduates, some as young as 22, by US law firms after they have completed two years’ in-work training.