Racial and Religious Hatred Bill

It will come as no surprise to the Minister to learn that if the choice is between a subjective recklessness test and the ““likely limb””, I prefer the former, because the latter is even worse than the former. But as he knows from our discussions, such a test would be appropriate only where the offence is confined to threatening behaviour; even then, that in itself would be a contentious matter. Once the Government reintroduce the notion that the offence can be committed through abusive or insulting language or behaviour, any form of recklessness—whether subjective or objective—becomes completely inappropriate.