Racial and Religious Hatred Bill
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The Racial and Religious Hatred Bill (2005-6) is a Bill currently before the Parliament of the United Kingdom which, if passed, will create an offence of inciting (or 'stirring up') hatred against a person on the grounds of their religion. The Bill is the Labour Government's third attempt to bring in this offence: provisions were originally included as part of the Anti-Terrorism, Crime and Security Bill in 2001, but were dropped after objections from the House of Lords. The measure was again brought forward as part of the Serious Organised Crime and Police Bill in 2004-5, but was again dropped in order to get the body of that Bill passed before the 2005 general election.
The current Bill has passed through all its stages in the House of Commons and amendments have been made to it in the House of Lords. On 31 January 2006 the Government was defeated in its attempt to have two of these amendments removed.
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Previous attempts at legislation
After the terrorist attacks of 11 September, 2001, the Government in Britain brought forward the Anti-Terrorism, Crime and Security Bill. Clause 38 of that Bill would have had the effect of amending Part 3 of the Public Order Act 1986 to extend the existing provisions on incitement to racial hatred to cover incitement to religious hatred. When the Bill reached the House of Lords, an amendment to remove the clause was passed by 240 votes to 141. The Commons reinstated the clause, but the Lords again removed it. Finally, the then Home Secretary, David Blunkett, accepted that the Commons had to accede to the Lords' insistence that the clause be left out of the Bill.
On 8 January 2002, a Private Member's Bill was brought before the House of Lords by Lord Avebury, who sought in his Religious Offences Bill to amend the Public Order Act 1986 to include religious hatred offences, in exactly the same manner as the Government's 2001 Bill. Although the reaction to the Bill itself was not favourable, the House did appoint a Select Committee to look into the whole law relating to religious offences, including the possibility of repealing the law relating to blasphemy. There were no specific recommendations from the Committee, and in a debate on its conclusions on 22 April 2004, the Government confirmed that it intended to press ahead with the creation of an incitement to religious hatred offence.
The Government brought the proposal back before Parliament in the Serious Organised Crime and Police Bill in the Session leading up to the general election in May 2005. During the Lords debate on the relevant section of the Bill, on 5 April 2005 (the day on which the general election was called), the provision was removed. When the Bill returned to the Commons on 7 April, the Government announced that it was dropping the measure so as to secure the passage of the Bill as a whole before the Dissolution of Parliament.
At the general election, the Labour Party confirmed that, were it to be re-elected, it would bring in a Bill to outlaw incitement to religious hatred: "It remains our firm intention to give people of all faiths the same protection against incitement to hatred on the basis of their religion. We will legislate to outlaw it and will continue the dialogue we have started with faith groups from all backgrounds about how best to balance protection, tolerance and free speech" (Labour Party manifesto, 'Forward not back' (2005), p111-112).
Controversy
The bill contains wording to amend the Public Order Act 1986:
- Section 17A
- Meaning of "religious hatred"
- In this Part "religious hatred" means hatred against a group of persons defined by reference to religious belief or lack of religious belief.
- Meaning of "religious hatred"
- Section 18:
- (1) a person who uses threatening, abusive or insulting words or behaviour, or displays any written material which is threatening, abusive or insulting, is guilty of an offence if—
- (a) he intends thereby to stir up racial or religious hatred, or
- (b) having regard to all the circumstances the words, behaviour or material are (or is) likely to be heard or seen by any person in whom they are (or it is) likely to stir up racial or religious hatred.
- (1) a person who uses threatening, abusive or insulting words or behaviour, or displays any written material which is threatening, abusive or insulting, is guilty of an offence if—
It should be noted that through Section 17A the Bill is intended to prevent the stirring up of hatred of persons, not to prevent hatred of a religion. However, critics of the bill argue that this wording allows it to be abused to threaten the free speech of many religious and racial communities - anyone may claim that certain words are "abusive or insulting". They suggest that this is by nature a very subjective claim, and that the bill will extend far further than the problem it is designed to address. Supporters of the Bill have difficulty in understanding how any normal religious discourse could be mistaken for stirring up hatred against persons.
Critics have also claimed that the Act could make major religious works such as the Bible and the Qur'an illegal in their current form in the UK. Comedians and satirists also fear prosecution for their work. Leaders of major religions and race groups, as well as non-religious groups such as the National Secular Society and English PEN have spoken out in order to campaign against the Bill. Supporters of the Bill point out that all UK legislation has to be interpreted in the light of the Human Rights Act, which guarantees freedom of religion and expression. They therefore reject the suggestion that any Act of Parliament is capable making any religious text illegal.
The House of Lords passed amendments to the Bill on 25th October 2005 which have the effect of limiting the legislation to "A person who uses threatening words or behaviour, or displays any written material which is threatening ... if he intends thereby to stir up religious hatred". This removes the abusive and insulting concept, and requires the intention - and not just the possibility - of stirring up religious hatred.
The Government attempted to overturn these changes, but lost the House of Commons votes on 31st January 2006. The Bill is therefore likely to become law in the amended fashion.
History
- 11th July 2005 - the bill is passed by the House of Commons and was passed up to the House of Lords.
- 11th October 2005 - The bill was read by the House of Lords as a 300-strong group of protestors demonstrated in Hyde Park. Forty-seven Lords spoke in the debate, of whom nine came out in support of the bill. [1]
- 31st January 2006 - The Commons supports an amendment from the House of Lords by 288 to 278, contrary to the position of the Government. A second Lords amendment was approved by 283 votes to 282 in the absence of Prime Minister Tony Blair, who had apparently underestimated support for the amendment. This makes the bill the Labour government's second defeat since the 2005 election. [2]