Pam Gosal MSP

‘I WILL DO EVERYTHING IN MY POWER TO OVERTURN HATE CRIME ACT’

have done nothing wrong could easily find themselves criminalised as a direct consequence of the act.

But there will also be a hidden, insidious impact of this new law. It could lead to people heavily self-policing their speech and feeling unable to voice their own opinions. That would be a sad day for our society. This new law could also create mountains of extra work for frontline officers at a time when they are already stretched to breaking point.

They will be forced to make difficult calls about the intent of what people say and what constitutes reasonable opinions, with very little substance in the act to help them understand what is or isn’t a criminal offence.

Unfortunately, it seems that overstretched police officers will need to pick up the pieces left by the Hate Crime Act’s numerous grey areas, which will only distract the police from combating serious crimes.

As a Sikh woman of Indian heritage, I have myself experienced racist abuse and completely agree with the desire to stamp out discrimination in Scotland. However, I feel that the correct way to approach this is to build bridges between our communities and to encourage integration and understanding between Scotland’s diverse groups, not sow the seeds for further mistrust and division.

Freedom of speech is a fundamental principle that our country is built upon. There are better solutions to tackling discrimination than putting at risk such an important right.

Unfortunately, the Scottish Conservatives were the only party to vote against this disastrous law when it was going through the Scottish Parliament in 2021 with the SNP, Labour and Lib Dems all voting in favour of it.

I will do everything in my power as MSP for West Scotland to overturn the Hate Crime Act and restore free speech in Scotland.