Racial and Religious Hatred Bill

I rise only—because we obviously want to hear what my noble friend on the Front Bench will say about issues raised—to say that my submission would be that the points made by the noble and learned Lord, Lord Lyell, will surely best be dealt with in discussions that I understand may well take place, because they relate to the Bill as unamended. In fact, we have passed the amendments and this debate will be prolonged too much if we discuss the Bill as if it had not been amended. I entirely agree with him that enormous problems would have arisen, which is why many of us wanted the offence on religious belief to be constricted to intention and real incitement. As for the noble Viscount, his point is so important and is not made off the cuff—he has been trying to make it for a long time—that my noble friend on the Front Bench must have had adequate notice and it will be very valuable indeed to know what is the Government’s response in respect of the European Convention on Human Rights.