UK Parliament / Open data

Equality Bill [HL]

There is something to be said for not being quick in jumping up but allowing other people to get in before you. It means that practically everything you had intended to say has already been said. I am absolutely positively certain that the Government have no intention to do anything in the Bill that would be harmful to any religion. But there is no doubt that this clause raises problems. I was of the view that it was just officials doing this, as my noble friend Lady O’Cathain described, but my noble friend Lord Ferrers spoke about local authorities doing it too. I think that people have gone slightly mad with political correctness. The idea that Bibles should be taken away from bedside tables because they might be interpreted as offending somebody and that some sort of defence for that action might be found under the Bill is beyond belief. I suggest that the Minister should consider taking this provision away and looking at the wording as noble Lords on all sides of the Committee have had difficulty with it. It seems to me that something ought to be corrected.
Type
Proceeding contribution
Reference
673 c1129 
Session
2005-06
Chamber / Committee
House of Lords chamber
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