Jackson Carlaw
EASTWOOD MSP
AT the beginning of April, the SNP’s new Hate Crime law came into force.
When the bill emerged, it proved to be the most controversial piece of proposed legislation in the history of the Scottish Parliament at that time.
A consultation on the bill attracted nearly 2,000 submissions and this was more than any other planned new law in the two decades since Holyrood was established in 1999.
The Hate Crime Act is a serious threat to freedom of speech in Scotland.
For instance, there is no protection included in the bill for what people say in the privacy of their own houses.
This means that contentious discussions and disagreements around the dinner table may now result in the police knocking on the doors of ordinary Scots.
This demonstrates just how much free speech has been devalued by the SNP.
The creative sector could also be threatened by the legislation.
In a Scottish Government culture debate last Tuesday, I highlighted fears from artists that the legislation could inhibit their performance.
The Scottish Police Federation has specifically warned that comedians performing at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival who take risks with what they say could be questioned by officers.
The possible impact of the Hate Crime bill on artists and performers is a major concern.
At the time of writing, almost 9,000 hate complaints had been made to the police since the legislation formally took effect – and the vast majority of these reports were not crimes.
Police time and resources are already under intolerable strain, with SNP cuts causing such difficulty for the force that officers are no longer going to investigate every reported crime.
Offences deemed to be minor, such as break-ins, thefts and vandalism, may not always be followed up from here on in.
Yet police time is now being used to record non-criminal hate incidents, including a welldocumented and spurious complaint against my Scottish
Conservative MSP colleague Murdo Fraser.
For the SNP’s governance of Scotland to lead to a situation whereby a large number of crimes will not be subject to investigation but innocent people such as Murdo are having their names put on the police record is utterly ridiculous.
It is important to highlight that the SNP’s Hate Crime legislation was enabled by Labour, Liberal Democrats and Greens, as all of these parties voted to support the law at Holyrood.
Only the Scottish Conservatives voted against the legislation and we are the only party to call for it’s repeal.
The Hate Crime Act is an SNP-Labour-Lib Dem and Green law.
Last week at the Scottish Parliament, we provided the other parties with an opportunity to start the process of rectifying their mistake in pushing through this legislation by bringing forward a motion to call on the abolition of the Hate Crime law.
Sadly, our motion was not backed by any of them and Scottish Conservatives continue to stand alone at Holyrood as the only political party that is against this piece of bad legislation.
We will not let up in articulating the need to scrap the Hate Crime bill.
Police time and resources are under intolerable strain, with SNP cuts causing such difficulty that officers are no longer going to investigate every reported crime