Pressure on SNP to end ‘gagging’ lawsuits by super-rich
THE SNP government is under pressure to give judges more powers to throw out lawsuits that allow the rich and famous to silence critics – amid fears Scotland could become the antifree speech capital of Europe.
The European Union and UK Government are introducing directives to crack down on socalled strategic lawsuits against public participation (Slapps), which can be brought by the super-rich to gag opponents.
Slapps are often used to stop journalists or campaigners from exposing wrongdoing via existing defamation, data protection and privacy laws.
Scotland is one of the few remaining countries in Europe that has failed to pledge to get tough on the lawsuits. The Scottish Government previously called an attempt to crack down on Slapps ‘unnecessary’.
Now, former Nationalist MP Roger Mullin has warned that Scotland could become a Slapp tourism destination if the SNP government does not act soon.
Mr Mullin, who has submitted a petition to the Scottish parliament on the issue, said: ‘If England and Wales make it more difficult, and Scotland doesn’t act, it will become easy pickings for some of the most malevolent people in existence.’
His fear is the rich and famous will resort to suing people for publications – including online articles and books – which appear in Scotland even if the complainant and defendant have never set foot in the country.
The UK Government has tabled amendments to the Economic Crime and Corporate Transparency Bill, to make it easier for courts in England and Wales to quickly dismiss Slapps related to economic crime – to which up to 70 per cent relate.
A Scottish Government Minister will state its position on May 1 at a Slapps evidence session.
The Scottish Government said it was ‘closely monitoring’ the EU and UK Government directives concerning Slapps, and the citizen participation and public petitions committee’s consideration of the petition.