UK timeline, part 8 of 10

British laws that were defended, then abandoned

Laws Britain once defended and later abandoned: the death penalty, Section 28, blasphemy, ID cards and more.

This timeline is a starting catalogue. Unlike our fact-checked cases, each entry has not yet been checked against primary sources. Not every case involves dishonesty: many are honest changes as evidence improved.

Capital punishment for murder 1965–1969

U-turn

Britain ended executions for murder after generations of their use in criminal justice.

Remaining capital offences 1998

U-turn

The UK abolished the death penalty for the last remaining offences.

Criminalisation of male homosexuality 1967 onwards

U-turn

Consensual sex between men was partially decriminalised in England and Wales, with reforms following in Scotland and Northern Ireland.

Section 28 1988–2003

U-turn

Legislation restricting local authorities in relation to homosexuality was eventually repealed.

Unequal age-of-consent laws 2000

U-turn

Parliament equalised the age of consent for homosexual and heterosexual sexual activity.

Same-sex marriage 2013–2020

U-turn

The legal definition of marriage changed across the UK's jurisdictions.

Marital rape exemption 1991

Legal reversal

The House of Lords rejected the long-standing notion that a husband could not be guilty of raping his wife.

Corporal punishment in state schools 1986–1987

U-turn

A longstanding disciplinary practice was banned.

Read our fact-checked case

Corporal punishment in private schools 1998–2003

U-turn

Prohibition was extended to the independent-school sector across the UK.

Smacking children in Scotland 2020

U-turn

Scotland removed the legal defence of reasonable chastisement.

Smacking children in Wales 2022

U-turn

Wales abolished the defence of reasonable punishment.

No-fault divorce in England and Wales 2022

U-turn

Parliament replaced a system that had required couples to establish a legal ground for divorce, often through allegations of fault.

Abortion in Northern Ireland 2019–2020

U-turn

The legal framework changed substantially following Westminster legislation.

The old laws against suicide 1961

U-turn

Suicide ceased to be a criminal offence in England and Wales.

The blanket ban on prisoners voting 2000s–2010s

Legal challenge

European court rulings found the blanket UK prohibition incompatible with convention rights; limited administrative changes followed, rather than wholesale repeal.

Indefinite detention of foreign terrorism suspects 2004–2005

Legal reversal

The House of Lords ruled the system incompatible with human-rights protections, and it was replaced.

Control orders for terrorism suspects 2005–2012

U-turn

The system was replaced by Terrorism Prevention and Investigation Measures.

The UK's Rwanda asylum policy 2022–2024

U-turn

After years of defending the scheme and legal challenges, a subsequent government abandoned it.

The UK's mandatory identity-card scheme 2006–2011

U-turn

A heavily debated national identity-card programme was abolished.

The UK blasphemy offences 2008

U-turn

The common-law offences of blasphemy and blasphemous libel were abolished in England and Wales.

These cases differ from scientific reversals. Many were changes in democratic or judicial judgments about rights, punishment and state power rather than discoveries that an earlier law was scientifically false.

Last reviewed: 12 November 2026.