Coroners and Justice Bill

The Waddington amendment and the Bill to which it was attached are not in force at present. They are not there. That is not the law of the land as it stands. I must move on. In response to the noble Lord, Lord Low, the Government have said that we intend to issue guidance on the new offence. The Ministry of Justice intends to issue short explanatory guidance about the offence. The Crown Prosecution Service, in its turn, will issue guidance to prosecutors. We understand that the Association of Chief Police Officers is currently revising its hate crime manual, which will open operational advice about the offences of stirring up hatred. This will be in addition to current guidance, covering topics such as the Human Rights Act. The Government’s case is that that, coupled with the high threshold of the offence, makes us believe that the safeguards are adequate—indeed, more than adequate—without the freedom of expression clause. What I describe as a lawyer’s point has been made about whether the Government are saying, on the one hand, that this is unnecessary, or on the other, that it will do harm. Life is not quite as simple as that. It is correct, of course, on a literal interpretation, that this section is unnecessary, because it states a proposition that any court would be able to deduce for itself. It does not, of course, in any way alter the range of behaviour or material which is caught by the offence. But it does not follow that it is thus, necessarily, harmless. Unnecessary material in legislation has a potential to go septic. If he will forgive me, I should like to remind the Committee that my noble friend Lord Smith of Finsbury said on the Report stage of the 2008 Bill that the section brings a danger that those who do wish to incite hatred may seek to take refuge in this amendment to justify their behaviour. That was true then. It is as true today. That is the real point behind the Government’s opposition to what the noble Lord, Lord Waddington, is suggesting. The section is unnecessary, of course, but there will be those outside—no one in this House or this Committee—who will take advantage and thus do their best to make the lives of those who this offence is supposed to protect more difficult. It is for those reasons that the Government invite the Committee to say that Clause 61 should stand, and that noble Lords should vote Content.