[10] The Criminal Justice and Immigration Act 2008 amended Part 3A of the Public Order Act 1986 to extend hate crime legislation to cover "hatred against a group of persons defined by reference to sexual orientation (whether towards persons of the same sex, the opposite sex or both)".

To prevent that Act being used to inhibit freedom of speech on the subject of homosexuality, the Criminal Justice and Immigration Act also inserted a new section 29JA, entitled "Protection of freedom of expression (sexual orientation)" but sometimes known as the Waddington Amendment (after Lord Waddington who introduced it).

[11]During debate on the Coroners and Justice Bill the Government unsuccessfully attempted to repeal section 29JA.

[18] In December 2012, owners of a family patio and paving business in Bedford were successfully prosecuted under the provision criminalising the holding of someone in slavery or servitude, or requiring them to perform forced or compulsory labour, between 2010 and 2011.

The family was found to be using vulnerable mentally ill, alcoholic, and homeless men for forced labour, holding some men in servitude for decades and paying them as little as £5 a day (the National Minimum Wage at the time was £5.80 per hour for an adult aged 21 or over).