Racial and Religious Hatred Bill

I am loath to intervene because I want to hear what the Minister has to say, but I have a couple of points to make. I hope that Members of the Committee do not think that I am a creep, but I say to my noble friend Lord Foulkes that I like the way we conduct ourselves in this House. We do not shout at each other; we take it in turn to speak; and, believe it or not, we listen to each other. My basis for comparison is not the other place, about which I know nothing, but academic life, which is very different. I want to echo three or four points that have been made. I entirely agree with the noble Lord, Lord Alton. I wish that we had never had this Bill in the first place, but we have it and, therefore, our duty as a revising chamber is to revise it and improve it. There is no doubt about that. I also find it hard to see this matter as party political. I cannot see the connection between this and being a true member of the Labour Party. I have been a member for a long time so, to me, opposing the Bill is not attacking the Labour Party in any way, but that is by the way. Of the utmost importance is the fact that, for me as a layman, the Bill, which I have great difficulty following in its original form, would become something that I can understand with the amendments. When the amendments are added, I can follow the line of reasoning, which I could not when I first read the Bill. It seems to me that there are only two possibilities: one is that the Bill says what the amendments say, in which case the Government should accept the amendments because it is important that some of us should be able to understand the Bill; alternatively, the Bill does not say what the amendments say, in which case the Government should make the amendments, because the Bill should say what the amendments say. My final point is on procedure, and here I am very much with the noble Lords, Lord Clinton-Davis and Lord Barnett. Whether it is a convention, new or old, it seems to me, particularly on a matter of such importance, that the Government should be given a chance to think again. That should be the case when we argue on anything, but certainly on a matter as important as this. If the Minister says that she has listened to the arguments, she really must think again and come back to us. If she does that, the Committee will be satisfied. If the Minister simply says at the end of her speech, ““No way””—perhaps the Committee will forgive the vernacular—we might as well get the voting over and done with now, as it will put us all out of our misery. This may be the introduction that my noble friend wants, and I very much look forward to hearing her response.