Verdict on hate law: It’s ‘daf t and naive’
Sturgeon’s ex-law professor slams SNP ‘ignorance’
NICOLA Sturgeon’s former law professor has launched a withering attack on the SNP’s Hate Crime Bill.
Alistair Bonnington said that the legislation was ‘daft’ and ‘naive’.
The former Honorary Professor of Law at Glasgow University, where Miss Sturgeon studied, also called it ‘wholly unnecessary’.
The planned law has been widely criticised over the risk it could pose to freedom of speech if enacted in its current form.
It contains plans for jail terms of up to seven years for those who ‘stir up’ hate or are in possession of ‘inflammatory’ material.
Mr Bonnington said: ‘This is yet another example of the SNP failing to understand fundamental principles of Scots law.
‘On corroboration, Named Person and sectarianism, they have shown an embarrassing level of ignorance as to how we do things in our Scottish system. Scots law managed to survive as an independent system from 1707 to 1999.
‘Now the real danger to our law is the Scottish parliament’s stupidity. The Scottish Government is wasting the parliament’s time dealing with wholly unnecessary laws.
‘It’s unnecessary because sheriffs and judges have always sentenced criminals more severely for these kind of crimes if there is an aggravating underlying motive, such as a racial or religious motive. The Scottish Government don’t seem to have learned any lessons from their outstandingly idiotic laws on sectarianism at football matches.’
Mr Bonnington, a former BBC Scotland legal adviser, said ‘this particular Bill is even worse than normal, in that the Government
‘A lovely Mary Poppins world’
admits there is no evidence that it is necessary, and the Bill will interfere with freedom of speech’.
He said: ‘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.
‘The truth is very different. Sadly, people always have and always will hate each other. Anyone who thinks passing laws will make any difference is downright daft.’
The SNP was forced into a U-turn over the Named Person scheme which aimed to introduce state guardians for all children but was deemed unlawful by the Supreme Court in London. And a law forbidding sectarian singing at football matches was later rescinded.
Earlier moves to axe the historic legal principle of corroboration – stipulating two sources of evidence to back up allegations in criminal cases – were also dropped after a major backlash.
The proposed hate crime legislation will widen the definition of a hate crime to include age, disability, religion, sexual orientation and transgender issues, as well as race.
The Mail has reported that the Catholic Church in Scotland fears the vaguely worded provisions of the Hate Crime Bill could criminalise possession of the Bible.
Other critics include the Law Society of Scotland and the Scottish Police Federation. It estimates several days of police training would be needed on the Bill – at a cost of £4million a day.
Scottish Tory justice spokesman Liam Kerr said the Hate Crime Bill ‘is deeply flawed and will destroy our fundamental right to freedom of speech – no wonder the vast majority of Scots hate it’.
A Scottish Government spokesman said: ‘The Bill does not seek to stifle criticism or rigorous debate in any way and includes provisions on freedom of expression.’