Racial and Religious Hatred Bill

If I can just finish this point, I will gladly take further interventions. It also makes it crystal clear that the offences are concerned with the stirring up of hatred against people, not religious belief itself. We believe that that provides the reassurance that many have been seeking. Indeed, Lord Lester, speaking about the way forward proposed by the Government during Third Reading in the other place, said that this form of declaratory statement would be"““a unique addition to the criminal code””.—[Official Report, House of Lords, 24 January 2006; Vol. 677, c. 1075.]"