Racial and Religious Hatred Bill

My Lords, I am not entirely clear when and if it will be appropriate to speak about the Bill more generally, picking up the point made by the right reverend Prelate and the noble Lord, Lord Lester. I very much agree with the points that they made. At Second Reading, I made it clear that I did not believe that the measure was compatible with the values of a free and tolerant society and I put my name to the group of amendments to which the noble Lord, Lord Lester, has referred and which, with all due respect to the noble Lord, Lord Hylton, cover the issues to which he wants to draw the House’s attention this afternoon. As I understand it, there have been discussions involving my right honourable friend the Home Secretary and my noble friend the Minister of State, and a good deal of common ground has been found. I very much welcome that and hope that it will be brought to fruition. I may be misinformed but I understand that the opposition Front Benches in another place have reservations about the degree of common ground that has been found. If that is so, it is extremely regrettable because there is a big danger of making the best the enemy of the good in this kind of case. The Bill, as it now exists after amendment in Committee, effectively covers the points made by the noble Lord, Lord Hylton. I think it is a much better Bill than the one that came here, yet that was the Government’s ideal Bill. The present Bill, even with this common ground established, will no longer be the Government’s ideal Bill; it will be their compromise Bill. There are dangers in opposition Members in another place seeking to undermine the degree of common ground that has been arrived at and, as I said, making the best the enemy of the good. Given the political pressures in another place, we do not want the Government suddenly deciding to reintroduce the original Bill rather than accepting and going with what seems to me the fair compromise which has, I understand, been agreed. In my judgment—backed up by the much more expert noble Lord, Lord Lester of Herne Hill—that compromise would underpin a good outcome and show what the House of Lords is capable of doing in terms not of trying to sink a Bill which is a manifesto commitment but of trying to challenge the Government and revise a Bill in a very constructive way.