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Articles and Speeches
Incitement to
Religious Hatred
24-Jun-05, Windsor Express
Column.
"On arrival in the House of Commons I
was looking forward to the high level of debate on national
issues of concern and importance to all of us. I have not
been disappointed as I have begun to play a role in debate
on behalf of constituents.
It is my job to hold the Government to account, as a
member of the official opposition both for their actions and
the consequences of their actions. We must vigorously debate
and demand answers to questions raised by their proposed
legislation.
Perhaps naively, I had imagined that Government ministers
would answer the questions raised.
Sadly it was a disappointment this week when I asked the
Home Secretary, Charles Clarke, to explain why something was
missing from the Government’s Bill on Racial and Religious
Hatred.
Whether we agree or disagree that this is a good piece of
legislation – and I disagree - their Bill defines a new
crime of the incitement to hatred on the grounds of religion
or religious belief.
Considering the Home Secretary wants to lock people up
for 5 years on this basis, I asked him why the Government
had not defined what it considered to be a “religion” in
this bill.
His answer was that it would be too difficult to define!
This will make it almost impossible to determine whether
this new law has been broken. Prosecutions will therefore be
open to appeal so that, ultimately, it will be a politician
that decides what constitutes a religion.
He was then asked to give an example of the actions that
someone might undertake that would lead to them being
arrested and prosecuted under this new law. During several
hours of debate he refused to give a single example.
MPs from all parties provided examples of potential
offences and asked the Home Secretary if a prosecution would
occur under his new law. His answer was always ‘no’.
Whilst all decent people are against the incitement of
hatred on religious ground, there is no point creating a law
under which nobody will be prosecuted.
I hope common sense will win through. And I will do my
best to consign this bill to dustbin of history in its
current form."
Adam Afriyie, MP for Windsor |
