I was elected to this place in a free and fair election, and I come here and say not what I am asked or told to, but what I believe. Similarly, my constituents make representations to me in a free and open way, fearlessly. They sometimes agree with me and they sometimes disagree. Part of the glory of our democracy is that we can exchange views, we can learn from others, and we can disagree openly, fairly and, as I have said, without fear. That would once have been taken as read as a way of describing not just this place and our representative democracy, but the character of a free society in which we are all proud to live.
4.15 pm
At least, I could have said that until very recently, but now all is altered. In our universities, women are intimidated simply for saying that sex is a biological fact. Academics are intimidated—sometimes silenced—for championing our history and our heroes. Worst of all—this brings me to the amendment from my hon. Friend the Member for Northampton South (Andrew Lewer)—we now have people arrested for praying. They are interrogated by the police; asked what they are praying about and what they are thinking. As my hon. Friend said, this is dystopia. It is like a mix of Huxley, Philip Dick and Orwell.
It is unthinkable that we should be living in a society where what people think has become a matter of police interest. But more than that, it is not merely a matter of police inquiry, for the lady concerned was arrested, charged and went to court. Of course, in the end she was acquitted, but that is not the point. The very fact that she could be arrested for what she thought or prayed for is—in a much overused word—chilling.