Racial and Religious Hatred Bill

The hon. Gentleman says no, but the terminology is exactly the same. He was worried about the aspect of intent, which will also apply to people who preach in churches and express views about other people’s religion. The hon. Member for Walsall, North also said that he wants some safeguards. The other reason why the Minister should consider accepting new schedule 1—it is typical that such a sensible and pragmatic approach should be proposed by a Scotsman—is that all it would do is formalise the promises made by himself and by the Secretary of State. On Second Reading, when my hon. Friend the Member for North Antrim (Rev. Ian Paisley) mentioned the Westminster confession of faith, the Secretary of State said:"““I think that I can give him the assurance for which he asks. Statements in the Bible, the Book of Common Prayer and other faith books—the Koran for instance—are precisely that. They are not incitements to hatred.””—[Official Report, 21 June 2005, Vol. 435, c. 671.]" At the end of the debate, he promised the House that the Bill would not place restrictions on freedom of speech, stop comedians telling jokes, or prevent people with strong views about religion from expressing their opinions. If that is so, why cannot the explicit terms in new schedule 1 be incorporated in the Bill? Since assurances have already been given in the House, surely new schedule 1 can be included to reassure those who fear that the measure will restrict the freedom of speech of those who want to express their religious views or tell jokes. Why will not the Government make the assurances explicit in the Bill by accepting new schedule 1? Leaving the Bill so open ended will lead to bad law and malicious complaints to the police. That applies even with the safeguard of the Attorney-General. The Home Secretary announced the seven stages in any prosecution. However, the five stages before a complaint reaches the Attorney-General are sufficient to cause trauma and difficulties for people against whom malicious complaints have been made and when the police have started an investigation. The one sure way of not having to rely on the Attorney-General and of ensuring that we do not go down the road of people suffering the trauma of an unnecessary police investigation, which may never finish as a prosecution, is to provide explicitly in the Bill for the things that will not be included, as listed in new subsection (3) in new schedule 1, paragraph 2. The Under-Secretary should live up to the promise that he made at the beginning. He should listen, engage and accept a compelling argument.