The Racial and Religious Hatred Act 2006 (c. 1) is an Act of the

Parliament of the United Kingdom The Parliament of the United Kingdom is the supreme legislative body of the United Kingdom, the Crown Dependencies and the British Overseas Territories. It meets at the Palace of Westminster, London. It alone possesses legislative supremacy ...

which creates an offence in

England and Wales England and Wales () is one of the three legal jurisdictions of the United Kingdom. It covers the constituent countries England and Wales and was formed by the Laws in Wales Acts 1535 and 1542. The substantive law of the jurisdiction is Engl ...

of inciting hatred against a person on the grounds of their religion. The Act was 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 House of Lords, also known as the House of Peers, is the upper house of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. Membership is by appointment, heredity or official function. Like the House of Commons, it meets in the Palace of Westminster in ...

. 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 Act is notable because two amendments made in the House of Lords failed to be overturned by the Government in the

House of Commons The House of Commons is the name for the elected lower house of the bicameral parliaments of the United Kingdom and Canada. In both of these countries, the Commons holds much more legislative power than the nominally upper house of parliament. ...

. Most of the Act came into force on 1 October 2007.

Previous attempts at legislation

After the

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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 The Public Order Act 1986 (c 64) is an Act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. It creates a number of public order offences. They replace similar common law offences and parts of the Public Order Act 1936. It implements recommendations

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 The secretary of state for the Home Department, otherwise known as the home secretary, is a senior minister of the Crown in the Government of the United Kingdom. The home secretary leads the Home Office, and is responsible for all national ...

David Blunkett David Blunkett, Baron Blunkett, (born 6 June 1947) is a British Labour Party politician who has been a Member of the House of Lords since 2015, and previously served as the Member of Parliament (MP) for Sheffield Brightside and Hillsborough f ...

, accepted that the Commons had to accede to the Lords' insistence that the clause be left out of the Bill. 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

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. 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".

Controversy

The Act amends the Public Order Act 1986 as follows: *Section 29A **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. *Section 29B: **(1) A person who uses threatening words or behaviour, or displays any written material which is threatening, is guilty of an offence if he intends thereby to stir up religious hatred. The Government's plan was simply to add 'or religious' after 'racial' in the existing law, which would then have penalised use of 'threatening, abusive or insulting words or behaviour'. Critics of the Bill (before the removal of the words 'abusive or insulting ' and the addition of a requirement for the ''intention'' of stirring up religious hatred) asserted that the Act would make major religious works such as the Bible and the

Quran The Quran (, ; Standard Arabic: , Quranic Arabic: , , 'the recitation'), also romanized Qur'an or Koran, is the central religious text of Islam, believed by Muslims to be a revelation from God. It is organized in 114 chapters (pl.: , sing. ...

illegal in their current form in the UK. Comedians and

satirist This is an incomplete list of writers, cartoonists and others known for involvement in satire – humorous social criticism. They are grouped by era and listed by year of birth. Included is a list of modern satires. Under Contemporary, 1930-1960 ...

s also feared prosecution for their work. While sympathising with those who promoted the legislation, actor and comedian

Rowan Atkinson Rowan Sebastian Atkinson (born 6 January 1955) is an English actor, comedian and writer. He played the title roles on the sitcoms '' Blackadder'' (1983–1989) and '' Mr. Bean'' (1990–1995), and the film series ''Johnny English'' (2003–20 ...

said: "I appreciate that this measure is an attempt to provide comfort and protection to them but unfortunately it is a wholly inappropriate response far more likely to promote tension between communities than tolerance." Leaders of major religions and race groups spoke out against the Bill, as did non-religious groups such as the

National Secular Society The National Secular Society (NSS) is a British campaigning organisation that promotes secularism and the separation of church and state. It holds that no one should gain advantage or disadvantage because of their religion or lack of it. It was ...

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and

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(who had since 2001 been pointing to the vital differences between ethnicity and religion when the context was restricting freedom of speech). Supporters of the Bill responded that all UK legislation has to be interpreted in the light of the

Human Rights Act 1998 The Human Rights Act 1998 (c. 42) is an Act of Parliament of the United Kingdom which received royal assent on 9 November 1998, and came into force on 2 October 2000. Its aim was to incorporate into UK law the rights contained in the European Con ...

, which guarantees freedom of religion and expression, and so denied that an Act of Parliament is capable of making any religious text illegal. The

passed amendments to the Bill on 25 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 removed the abusive and insulting concept, and required the intention – not just the possibility – of stirring up religious hatred. The Government attempted to overturn these changes, but lost the House of Commons votes on 31 January 2006.

History

* 11 July 2005 – The bill was passed by the

and was passed up to the

. * 11 October 2005 – The bill was read by the House of Lords as a 300-strong group of protesters demonstrated in Hyde Park. Forty-seven Lords spoke in the debate, of whom nine came out in support of the bill. * 25 October 2005 – The

passed amendments to the Bill. * 31 January 2006 – The Commons agreed to 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 A prime minister, premier or chief of cabinet is the head of the cabinet and the leader of the ministers in the executive branch of government, often in a parliamentary or semi-presidential system. Under those systems, a prime minister is n ...

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, who had apparently underestimated support for the amendment. This made the bill the Labour government's second (and third) defeat since the 2005 election. The Tories' strategy to win the vote was inspired by " A Good Day", an episode of American television series ''

The West Wing ''The West Wing'' is an American serial political drama television series created by Aaron Sorkin that was originally broadcast on NBC from September 22, 1999, to May 14, 2006. The series is set primarily in the West Wing of the White House, ...

''. * 16 February 2006 – The Bill received

Royal Assent Royal assent is the method by which a monarch formally approves an act of the legislature, either directly or through an official acting on the monarch's behalf. In some jurisdictions, royal assent is equivalent to promulgation, while in othe ...

to become the Racial and Religious Hatred Act 2006 c. 1. * 1 October 2007 – The act came partially into force with the publication of a

Statutory Instrument In many countries, a statutory instrument is a form of delegated legislation. United Kingdom Statutory instruments are the principal form of delegated or secondary legislation in the United Kingdom. National government Statutory instrumen ...

. Remaining provisions awaiting commencement are the insertion of sections 29B(3), 29H(2), 29I(2)(b) and 29I(4) into the Public Order Act 1986:

References

Bibliography

External links

The Racial and Religious Hatred Act 2006
as amended from

The National Archives National archives are central archives maintained by countries. This article contains a list of national archives. Among its more important tasks are to ensure the accessibility and preservation of the information produced by governments, both ...

.
The Racial and Religious Hatred Act 2006
as originally enacted from The National Archives.
Explanatory notes
to the Racial and Religious Hatred Act 2006.

* ttps://web.archive.org/web/20060326015145/http://www.barnabasfund.org/News/ITRHC/Amended_Public_Order_Act.htm Public Order Act, amended to reflect the proposed changes of the bill
Voting records on the bill

Racial and Religious Hatred Bill
( BBC News Bill Tracker)
politics.co.uk news roundup

Q&A: Religious hatred law
(BBC News, 9 June 2005)
New effort to ban religious hate
(BBC News, 11 June 2005)

(''

The Sunday Times ''The Sunday Times'' is a British newspaper whose circulation makes it the largest in Britain's quality press market category. It was founded in 1821 as ''The New Observer''. It is published by Times Newspapers Ltd, a subsidiary of News UK, whi ...

'', 9 October 2005)
Protest over religious hate
(BBC News, 11 October 2005)

(''

The Guardian ''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper. It was founded in 1821 as ''The Manchester Guardian'', and changed its name in 1959. Along with its sister papers ''The Observer'' and '' The Guardian Weekly'', ''The Guardian'' is part of the G ...