Ad ban wrong says judge

A judge has condemned Blackpool Council’s decision to remove bus adverts publicising a Franklin Graham evangelistic event as ‘the antithesis’ of ‘how a public authority should behave in a democracy’.

Ahead of the event at the town’s winter gardens in September 2018, organisers paid for the banner adverts which carried the message ‘Time for Hope!’

Following complaints from members of the public, the council removed the adverts because of Graham’s beliefs on marriage and sexuality – even though no overtly religious wording nor imagery were used.