Racial and Religious Hatred Bill

Will my noble friend help to clarify his Amendment No. 31? If it has already been done by one of the other signatories I apologise, because I had to slip out for a minute or two. In proposed new paragraph 29B in Amendment No. 31 it states clearly that there has to be an intention to stir up religious hatred. Sub-paragraph (3) states that,"““A constable may arrest without warrant anyone he reasonably suspects is committing an offence””." That seems a step much further than the general arguments in favour of the amendment. The amendment seems to say that a constable can decide whether there is an intent to stir up religious hatred and then can proceed to make an arrest. That is going a long way further than many of the arguments that the supporters of the amendment have made.