While the guidance is important in terms of avoiding frivolous complaints and pointless investigations, the Minister does need to rely on it to support the Bill. Is it not the case that every single piece of legislation enacted by this Parliament to deal with issues relating to discrimination and incitement...

While the guidance is important in terms of avoiding frivolous complaints and pointless investigations, the Minister does need to rely on it to support the Bill. Is it not the case that every single piece of legislation enacted by this Parliament to deal with issues relating to discrimination and incitement...

I will not give way to the hon. Gentleman, because I hope that other Members may get in. We need not be in this situation. If Ministers had told the police in August when the ACPO press release arrived, ““We will give your ideas a fair hearing, but do the...

I will not give way to the hon. Gentleman, because I hope that other Members may get in. We need not be in this situation. If Ministers had told the police in August when the ACPO press release arrived, ““We will give your ideas a fair hearing, but do the...

I said that it is my view. I believe that we would have been doing this with none of the controversy or damage. I hope that the lesson is learned. The energy that has been put into this parliamentary debate should be directed out there in communities winning hearts and...

I said that it is my view. I believe that we would have been doing this with none of the controversy or damage. I hope that the lesson is learned. The energy that has been put into this parliamentary debate should be directed out there in communities winning hearts and...

: In many ways, this debate is very sad. This Bill will have a marginal effect on our overall security and the balance sheet is depressing. The truth is that the Prime Minister and Ministers have expended more effort on winning the votes of MPs than they have on winning...

: In many ways, this debate is very sad. This Bill will have a marginal effect on our overall security and the balance sheet is depressing. The truth is that the Prime Minister and Ministers have expended more effort on winning the votes of MPs than they have on winning...

I will not give way, as I want to make progress. If the Government and police between them could not produce a proper assessment, the House should do that in the months to come. I intend to consult members of my Select Committee on requesting that we should carry out...

I will not give way, as I want to make progress. If the Government and police between them could not produce a proper assessment, the House should do that in the months to come. I intend to consult members of my Select Committee on requesting that we should carry out...

I wholeheartedly welcome the commitment made by the Home Secretary today to refer the thorny issue of the definition of terrorism to Lord Carlile and to ask him to report to the House within a year. That issue has exercised many of us, and it is a very difficult one...

I wholeheartedly welcome the commitment made by the Home Secretary today to refer the thorny issue of the definition of terrorism to Lord Carlile and to ask him to report to the House within a year. That issue has exercised many of us, and it is a very difficult one...

May I caution my right hon. Friend not to overstate his case? I do not question the integrity of the police in proposing 90 days, and they may well have a good case. However, according to documents released to the Home Affairs Committee, when the Government agreed to support the...

May I caution my right hon. Friend not to overstate his case? I do not question the integrity of the police in proposing 90 days, and they may well have a good case. However, according to documents released to the Home Affairs Committee, when the Government agreed to support the...

: The Government might be storing up a problem. A number of Governments with whom we are generally friendly regard some of their own citizens as terrorists, while the British Government have taken a more ambiguous view. In the past, the British Government have said ““We cannot deal with these...

: The Government might be storing up a problem. A number of Governments with whom we are generally friendly regard some of their own citizens as terrorists, while the British Government have taken a more ambiguous view. In the past, the British Government have said ““We cannot deal with these...

Although such an attack is clearly terrorist and would be defined as such in the 2000 Act, the point is that we are considering new laws that we never thought it necessary to introduce when we faced the PIRA attacks. That is why we need to look at the definition...

Although such an attack is clearly terrorist and would be defined as such in the 2000 Act, the point is that we are considering new laws that we never thought it necessary to introduce when we faced the PIRA attacks. That is why we need to look at the definition...

Does not my hon. Friend realise that the provision could cover people who had not taken part in any terrorist activity at all in the other country, but had glorified terrorism, which might not even have been an offence in that country? If such people came here as asylum seekers,...

Does not my hon. Friend realise that the provision could cover people who had not taken part in any terrorist activity at all in the other country, but had glorified terrorism, which might not even have been an offence in that country? If such people came here as asylum seekers,...

I will touch on that issue, which relates to the report from which I took the wording of my amendment, in a moment. That report was by the high-level working group established by the Secretary-General of the United Nations in preparation for the 60th anniversary world summit. The group addressed...

I will touch on that issue, which relates to the report from which I took the wording of my amendment, in a moment. That report was by the high-level working group established by the Secretary-General of the United Nations in preparation for the 60th anniversary world summit. The group addressed...

I shall have to reflect on that, and perhaps we will be able to return to it when the Bill comes back on Report. I do not think that there are any circumstances in which deliberately targeting civilians or non-state combatants is a good idea, although it clearly happens. In...

I shall have to reflect on that, and perhaps we will be able to return to it when the Bill comes back on Report. I do not think that there are any circumstances in which deliberately targeting civilians or non-state combatants is a good idea, although it clearly happens. In...

: What I shall say about my amendment, No. 69, will follow comments that have already been made and will, I hope, begin to show the possibility of a way of dealing with the problems that we confront—the type of civilian murder promoted by al-Qaeda, and also the type of...

: What I shall say about my amendment, No. 69, will follow comments that have already been made and will, I hope, begin to show the possibility of a way of dealing with the problems that we confront—the type of civilian murder promoted by al-Qaeda, and also the type of...

I apologise to my hon. Friend the Minister and the House for having joined the debate somewhat late. A moment ago, my hon. Friend said that the target of the measure was organisations that glorified terrorism, and he referred specifically to the causing of mass murder. Does he accept that...

I apologise to my hon. Friend the Minister and the House for having joined the debate somewhat late. A moment ago, my hon. Friend said that the target of the measure was organisations that glorified terrorism, and he referred specifically to the causing of mass murder. Does he accept that...

My right hon. Friend is possibly aware that I had been contemplating voting against the Government for only the second time in 13 years, so I am grateful for the indication that she is, if I understand her, willing to look again at the wording of the clause. That is...

My right hon. Friend is possibly aware that I had been contemplating voting against the Government for only the second time in 13 years, so I am grateful for the indication that she is, if I understand her, willing to look again at the wording of the clause. That is...

: Throughout this debate we need to focus our minds on the problem that we are trying to solve; otherwise, we shall get into an abstract debate about the legislation. Despite the argument that some right hon. and hon. Members have made that there is no case for any change...

: Throughout this debate we need to focus our minds on the problem that we are trying to solve; otherwise, we shall get into an abstract debate about the legislation. Despite the argument that some right hon. and hon. Members have made that there is no case for any change...

Is not the problem that, in the example given by my hon. and learned Friend the Member for Medway (Mr. Marshall-Andrews), if one deleted the words ““destruction of power lines””—or whatever—and inserted the words ““killing of civilians”” and ““oppressive regime””, the Government certainly intend to catch that under clause 1?...

Is not the problem that, in the example given by my hon. and learned Friend the Member for Medway (Mr. Marshall-Andrews), if one deleted the words ““destruction of power lines””—or whatever—and inserted the words ““killing of civilians”” and ““oppressive regime””, the Government certainly intend to catch that under clause 1?...

Does my hon. Friend recall the first President Bush, at the end of the first Gulf war, urging the Iraqi people to rise up and overthrow Saddam Hussein? Has he considered the possibility that had this Bill been in place at that time, the President would have been guilty of...

Does my hon. Friend recall the first President Bush, at the end of the first Gulf war, urging the Iraqi people to rise up and overthrow Saddam Hussein? Has he considered the possibility that had this Bill been in place at that time, the President would have been guilty of...

Does the right hon. and learned Gentleman agree that one of the lessons of that period of history was that members of the public who supported those views were better drawn into the political process as voters who sought representation in a democracy than they were as active supporters of...

Does the right hon. and learned Gentleman agree that one of the lessons of that period of history was that members of the public who supported those views were better drawn into the political process as voters who sought representation in a democracy than they were as active supporters of...

I certainly do not accept Hamas’s strategy of terrorism, or its vision of the destruction of Israel. However, we make a mistake if we believe that organisations such as Hamas are indistinguishable from organisations such as al-Qaeda. One of the problems with the Bill is that it condemns such organisations...

I certainly do not accept Hamas’s strategy of terrorism, or its vision of the destruction of Israel. However, we make a mistake if we believe that organisations such as Hamas are indistinguishable from organisations such as al-Qaeda. One of the problems with the Bill is that it condemns such organisations...