Racial and Religious Hatred Bill

I entirely agree, my Lords, but the one thing that did not damage freedom of speech was the incitement to racial hatred—the crime that already exists. More recently, in 1998, under the Crime and Disorder Act and in 2001, under the Anti-terrorism, Crime and Security Act, Parliament recognised that a person’s race or religion can be an aggravating factor when offences are committed and that offences which involve a person’s racial identity or religious beliefs are more serious and therefore merit the creation of specific offences with higher penalties. Again, I think we would all accept that that is the right approach. Finally, this House has also recognised, in the area of civil law, that people should not be discriminated against because of their religious beliefs, first when approving the employment regulations in 2003 and currently in its consideration of the religious discrimination provisions in Part 2 of the Equality Bill. In doing so, your Lordships have accepted that it is wrong for a person to suffer discrimination or harassment because of their religion, just as it is wrong for them to be subjected to the same behaviour because of their nationality.