Justice Secretary warned against ‘dangerous’ message on allegations

The Scottish Police Federation General Secretary has warned Humza Yousaf of sending a “dangerous” message on allegations as he waded into the row around US Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh.

Mr Yousaf brought up US President Donald Trump mocking Christine Blasey Ford’s testimony in which she alleged Mr Kavanaugh assaulted her at a high school party in 1982, claims the newly-appointed justice denies.

Speaking at a fringe event at the SNP conference, the Scottish Justice Secretary

said: “She is saying it is sexual assault. You can allege whether it was Brett Kavanaugh or somebody else but she is telling you she has been sexually assaulted.

“You can argue around the veracity and the truth about who did it, who didn’t do it. My point is you can see from her testimony how harrowing it was.”

Scottish Police Federation General Secretary Calum Steele raised concerns about automatically believing those who make allegations.

He said: “I have a deep concern around the general principle of the allegation being the basis on which the assumption should be made that a crime has been committed.

“That’s a dangerous position to adopt for anyone. Just because someone says something happened it doesn’t mean that it did.”