Racial and Religious Hatred Bill

I assure the noble Earl, Lord Onslow, that disagreeing with and robustly criticising practices which one finds abhorrent are not prohibited by this Bill. That is a point we have tried to make in the past, but it has not been entirely accepted. The noble Earl will know that, as a result of the passing today of Amendments Nos. 1 and 2, we now have a very different structure. It is of course not for me to speak to those amendments and the effect of them. However, from the speeches we have already had, both the noble Lord, Lord Hunt, and the noble Lord, Lord Lester, would say that their amended Schedule would deal with the issue and that it would not arise. I find myself in an interesting position. I am no longer able to answer in the way I would have hitherto, because I have to pay due and proper regard to the expression of opinion given in this House. That means that those parts of the Bill to which the amendment now refers are no longer going to be in it.