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Equality Bill [HL]

My Lords, I thank the right reverend Prelate the Bishop of Chelmsford for so ably supporting me on this amendment. I thank the Minister, for whom I have great respect. But in this case she has not given me any crumb of comfort at all. The debate on the amendment tabled by the noble Lord, Lord Lester, might give us something—a third bite at the cherry—or we might be able to do something more. When the Minister spoke of the Bill leaving this place, all my alarm bells rang. I take absolutely no comfort in what may happen to the Bill when it goes down the corridor. I am sorry but I do not. That might sound horribly cynical, but I have been here long enough and I am long enough in the tooth to realise what can happen. The Minister made the point about a poster being deliberately provocative, so I would like her to consider this point. A great comfort that I know people with faith feel is seeing a poster that says,"““Come to me all who are heavily laden and I will give you rest””." Suppose a particular charity or church had a lunch club that was supported by a local authority and such a poster was put up on the wall, would that be regarded as harassment? The noble Baroness shakes her head, but the reality is that there are people out there with one sole objective and that is to cause mischief for people of faith. They do that; I have seen it; I have been on the receiving end of it. I am afraid that I am really concerned about this issue. Perhaps I am going over the top about it, but we need clarity and no uncertainty. The right reverend Prelate the Bishop of Chelmsford made that point. On the basis that I am very anxious to move forward and listen to what the noble Lord, Lord Lester, has to say about his amendment, for the moment I shall seek leave to withdraw my amendment. Amendment, by leave, withdrawn.