Criminal Justice and Immigration Bill

I want to speak to new clause 1, which proposes the abolition of blasphemy laws, and to amendment No. 1, which has been spoken to by the hon. Member for Heywood and Middleton (Jim Dobbin). I emphasise that the Conservative party regards them both as matters of conscience that call for a free vote, and that I am speaking personally in this regard. The hon. Member for Oxford, West and Abingdon (Dr. Harris) made the case for the abolition of the blasphemy laws perfectly clearly. He talked about their redundancy, which has become more evident since the failure of the prosecution of ““Gerry Springer: The Opera””. Indeed, it is hard to understand how any prosecution under the blasphemy laws could succeed when that action did not. As the hon. Member for Oxford, West and Abingdon noted, the Law Commission recommended abolition in 1985. It could be said that that would be the natural consequence of the introduction of the incitement to religious hatred provisions, and the Government accepted that at the time. I agree that the existence of the blasphemy laws in this country is an impediment to the stand that we would like to take against repressive blasphemy laws elsewhere, whose effect was illustrated recently by the teddy bear case in Sudan. It is true that the blasphemy laws are limited to the Anglican Church: they cannot apply to other religions, and they do not apply in Scotland or Northern Ireland. A summary of the case for abolition might be that"““it was thought that a denial of Christianity was liable to shake the fabric of society, which was itself founded upon Christian religion. There is no such danger to society now and the offence of blasphemy is a dead letter.””" That was said by Lord Denning in 1949. The arguments that have been advanced for the retention of the blasphemy laws are serious ones. The argument for some kind of chilling effect cuts both ways. If the blasphemy law is repealed, what kind of signal will that send and what will be the reaction of broadcasters and others, who might no longer feel constrained as to what they could say about the Christian faith? What proposals are there to ensure that they treat the Anglican faith respectfully?