Racial and Religious Hatred Bill

The hon. Gentleman is absolutely right to say that there is common ground in all parts of the House on the question of dealing with the mischief that the Government are addressing, and he is right to say that the Minister has been at pains to point out that the Bill will not create the mischief that some of us fear, which is unnecessary prosecutions. The difficulty that some of us have is that the Minister always ends up saying that the Attorney-General will act as the stop on such prosecutions, and that they will therefore not reach court. In doing so, the Minister fails to recognise that the problem is the effect that the complaint and the investigation will have on someone who is simply proselytising their religion, cracking a joke or doing any of the things that we believe to be part of free speech.