Spiritualists fight new regulation

The Spiritual Workers Association has said it will lobby the government over changes to regulation of its industry.

The Fraudulent Mediums Act (1951) is set to be replaced by the EU Unfair Commercial Practices Directive on the 26 May. Under the new legislation, mediums will have to prove they have not misled or coerced vulnerable consumers. Previously it was the prosecutors' responsibility to provide evidence that the medium had intended to be fraudulent.

Five people were convicted under the Fraudulent Mediums Act in England and Wales between 1980 to 1995.

The Spiritual Workers' Association argues that the new rules do not recognise spiritualism as a religion and will make mediums more vulnerable to prosecution.

"The problem is that it's turning spiritualism the religion into a consumer product, which it is not," founder of the Spiritual Workers' Association Carole McEntee-Taylor told BBC news.

However, Hanne Stinson, chief executive of the British Humanist Association, said that the new regulations will provide consumers with long-overdue protection.

"We hope that the new regulations will make real changes to the current situation, where psychic practitioners are permitted to make completely unsubstantiated claims and to take payment for their services, without fear of legal action," she added.