Government should listen to experts who condemn plans for Hate Crime Bill
It is high time the Scottish Government paused and took heed of what the Bible says in Isaiah 5 v21: “Woe unto them that are wise in their own eyes, and prudent in their own sight!” Not that long ago, they proudly imagined they were wiser than everybody else with the Named Person scheme and now, with blinkered vision, they dare to foolishly ignore all the astute advice being presented about their much-detested Hate Crime Bill.
With anger and dismay expressed by hordes of expert individuals and organisations, all claiming that the proposed law poses a serious risk to freedom of speech, arrogant politicians at Holyrood ought to sit up and seriously listen to those wiser that they.
Alistair Bonnington, a former Honorary Professor of Law at the University of Glasgow who taught the First Minister, is on record as saying: ‘This is yet another example of the SNP failing to understand fundamental principles of Scots law. They have shown an embarrassing level of ignorance as to how we do things in our Scottish system.’
He added that the SNP is, “wasting the parliament’s time dealing with wholly unnecessary laws… fundamental human rights freedoms, such as free speech, are not understood or respected by the Scottish Government. The Scottish Government seems to believe that they can create a lovely Mary Poppins world by passing well-meant, but naive laws.”
Not even Jim Sillars, former Deputy Leader of the SNP, thinks the Bill is wise thought, articulated by one’s speech, is so fundamental to the civic and intellectual life of our nation that any attempt by the government to restrict that freedom has to be robustly opposed.”
The Scottish Police Federation has slammed the controversial Hate Crime Bill, warning that it would significantly increase the police’s workload and damage freedom of speech. Calum Steele, their General Secretary, said: “The Bill would move even further from policing and criminalising of deeds and acts to the potential policing of what people think or feel, as well as the criminalisation of what is said in private.” He added that laws are already in place to tackle criminal conduct, and the Bill will, if passed, “paralyse freedom of expression for both individuals and organisations by threatening prosecution for the mere expression of opinion which may be unpopular.”
While countless other public bodies, including the Law Society of Scotland, oppose this preposterous Bill, what Dr Stuart Waiton, a senior lecturer in sociology and criminology at the University of Abertay, has to say ought to be a loud wakeup call to all of Scotland:
He has said the Bill might, “possibly be the most illiberal and intolerant piece of legislation in any liberal democracy, worldwide.”
Such remarks are chilling. While this obnoxious Bill has exposed Nicola Sturgeon and her SNP cohorts, to be dabbling in the fictional politics of cloud cuckoo land, “woe unto them” for trying to once again hoodwink the people of Scotland.
The best they could do with the Hate Crime and Public Order (Scotland) Bill, is quickly discard it in the dustbin at Holyrood, for the good of free speech and expression.