Franklin Graham: Blackpool Council fined £109k for advert ban

A council found to have breached human rights laws by banning adverts for an evangelical Christian preacher rally has been fined £109,000.

Blackpool Borough Council and Blackpool Transport Services removed bus adverts in 2018 for an event in the town featuring speaker Franklin Graham.

The council said it "sincerely apologised" to the organisers for the "upset and inconvenience caused."

Mr Graham said it was "an important victory for religious freedom".

The council removed advertisements that read "Lancashire Festival of Hope with Franklin Graham - Time for Hope" after complaints from LGBT groups about Mr Graham's reported views on same-sex weddings.

In a Manchester County Court hearing in April, Judge Claire Evans ruled the council had disregarded "the right to freedom of expression".

In a statement responding to the fine, council leader Lynn Williams said it accepted the judge's ruling.

She said the advertisements "were not in themselves offensive" but acknowledged that by removing them the council did not take into account the offence it might cause to other members of the public.

It may have suggested "that some voices should not be heard", she said.

"We sincerely apologise to the organisers of the event for the upset and inconvenience caused," she added.

In a statement, Mr Graham said: "This is an important moment for religious freedom in the UK.

"We're grateful to God for the final outcome of this case, and for what it will mean for churches and Christians across the UK in the years ahead."

Judge Evans said the decision was the "antithesis" of the way a public authority should behave in a democracy by breaching the Human Rights Act's protection of freedom of religion and freedom of expression.

She said the council "gave preference to the rights and opinions of one part of the community without any regard for the rights of the claimant or those who shared its religious beliefs".

Mr Graham is the son of the late evangelist Billy Graham, whose rallies attracted millions worldwide. He had also spoken in Blackpool in 1982.

Despite protests and an attempt to bar Mr Graham from entering the country, he hosted an evangelical rally at Blackpool Winter Gardens in 2018, the same venue where his father had appeared.

The council said the fine included VAT, which it can recover, so will have a net cost of £95,000 split between the council and Blackpool Transport Services, which it owns.

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