 In September 1974, the Sexual Law Reform Society proposed lowering the age of consent to 14, with the requirement that below the age of 18 the burden of proof that consent for sexual activities between the parties existed would be the responsibility of the older participant.In 1976, the British political advocacy group the National Council for Civil Liberties (now known as "Liberty") published a proposal advocating reducing the age of consent laws to 10 years of age, only when both individuals are younger than 14, with a close-in-age exemption of two years if one of the involved individuals is older than 14 but younger than 16.The report was signed by Harriet Harman, who later went on to become a prominent figure in government and deputy leader of the Labour Party and the focus of media attention due to her affiliations with the NCCL.