Racial and Religious Hatred Bill

I am sure that the hon. Gentleman is right in one sense, in that if there were to be a law preventing people from inciting hatred of politicians, we would be in a right mess. The point that the Opposition would not accept in Committee—although we advanced it on several occasions—was that whereas some people might want an offence to be committed only if the incitement led directly to acts of violence, many of us think that if someone incites hatred of a group of other people, they increase the likelihood of violence towards them even if the relationship is not directly provable. That is the element of the tide of hatred that we want to wash further back down the shore. I accept, however, that many hon. Members think that that is impossible and that the Bill will not achieve that. My point about the performance of plays is that the National Theatre might want to put on a play about incitement to religious hatred. A young woman from the east end of London might write a play that articulated in strong and effective fashion her profound dislike of what Islam had done to her family and her community, or she might point to some of the disagreements within the Muslim community in the east end of London. The director of the National Theatre should have every right to put on such a play. However, if the head of the British National party presented a play with similar themes to the National Theatre, I hope that the director would take a different attitude and would consider whether, in the circumstances, that might be an incitement to religious hatred.