Religious Hatred Bill
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| Long title | An Act to make provision about offences involving stirring up hatred against persons on racial or religious grounds. |
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| Citation | 2006 c. 1 |
| Territorial extent | England and Wales |
| Dates | |
| Royal assent | 16 February 2006 |
| Commencement | 1 October 2007 (partially) |
| Other legislation | |
| Amended by | None |
| Relates to | Police and Criminal Evidence Act 1984, Public Order Act 1986, Protection from Harassment Act 1997 |
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Status: Unknown
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| History of passage through Parliament | |
| Text of statute as originally enacted | |
| Revised text of statute as amended | |
The Racial and Religious Hatred Act 2006 (c. 1) is an Act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom which creates an offence in England and Wales 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 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.
Most of the Act came into force on 1 October 2007.
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.
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 .
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