Counter-Terrorism Bill

My Lords, as has been said, this amendment to the definition follows recommendations by the noble Lord, Lord Carlile. We accepted this recommendation in our response to his report on 7 June 2007. The change in the definition of terrorism is an opportunity to make it clear that terrorism includes acts and threats done for the purpose of advancing a racial cause. I do not deny that acts of terrorism motivated by a racial cause are already covered by the definition, since such acts are also likely to be political or ideological. However, the same could also be said of acts of terrorism motivated by a religious cause, but Parliament chose to include religiously motivated terrorism in the definition of terrorism. The position that I have elaborated on makes it important that we now include racially motivated terrorism in the definition. The reason is that, with the exclusion from the definition of racially motivated terrorism and the inclusion of religiously motivated terrorism, there is potential for an argument to be made that racially motivated terrorism has been specifically excluded. More important, there is an opportunity for perceptions to be formed about that. As the noble Lord mentioned, this came out strongly in all his regional visits and the various seminars that he held. That argument can be developed, too, as religious and racial motivation are so often intertwined in other pieces of legislation—for example, in racial and religious hatred and racially and religiously aggravated offences. Racial motivation is also referred to alongside other motivations, such as religion and politics, in the definitions of terrorism used by the United Nations in Resolution 1566 and by the Council of Europe Convention on the Prevention of Terrorism. As I said, perception is important and we should be clear that those who commit acts of terrorism with a racial motivation are covered by our legislation. We are making this change to the definition of terrorism following a long and detailed study on the issue by the noble Lord, Lord Carlile, who has just made the case for it far more eloquently than I could. We believe that the change will help to clarify our legislation. As I made clear on the first day of Report, I have made every effort to take the Bill forward on a consensual basis. Where possible, we should all try to reach agreement on measures that are relatively uncontentious and relatively minor in their effect. This is such a measure and I have heard nothing said today that would suggest that retaining this clause in the Bill would cause any problems. It therefore seems odd that this is something on which the House could possibly divide. Where there are major differences in this House we should of course put the issue to the vote; I would expect that to be the case. This does not seem to be such an issue, however, and I ask the noble Baroness to withdraw the amendment.