LGBT Veterans Independent Review

Lord Pannick Excerpts

Monday 23rd February 2026 Lords Chamber

[Lord Pannick (CB)]

Will the Minister acknowledge that what he rightly described as the shameful treatment of service men and women who are LGBT prior to 2001 ended only because of a judgment of the European Court of Human Rights, and that persons who criticise the role of the European court should bear that in mind as an example of the valuable role of that institution? I declare an interest because I am very proud that I was counsel for the claimants in that case.

[Lord Coaker (Lab)]

Congratulations on that further string to the noble Lord’s bow. The important point is that he is to be congratulated on the work that he did to bring that change forward and right that wrong. He should be proud of that, in the way I pointed out to other noble Lords. Frankly, we can make points about the European Court of Human Rights or many other courts, but the important thing is that the noble Lord used the legal process that was available at that time to put right a wrong. He is to be congratulated on that, but so is everybody across the House in the campaign to recognise that when something is wrong, sometimes the best thing to do is to admit it and put it right.