85% say SNP’s Hate Crime Bill is danger to free speech
MORE than eight out of ten respondents to a consultation on the SNP’s controversial hate crime legislation believe it poses a risk to freedom of speech.
The planned law is aimed at tackling hate offences but critics say it could undermine freedom of expression.
The findings emerged in a survey carried out by Holyrood’s justice committee which is scrutinising the Bill.
Analysis by the Free To Disagree campaign revealed that, of the 185 published responses from members of the public and organisations, 157 (84.9 per cent) stressed the need for stronger safeguards than those on offer.
Only 24 (13 per cent) were happy with the proposed options.
Tory justice spokesman Liam Kerr said: ‘This goes to show just how unpopular the SNP’s plans to curtail free speech are.
‘They have been repeatedly warned by experts, interest groups and opposition parties that their hate crime legislation completely fails to protect the basic human right to freedom of speech. Now the public are telling them the same thing.’
The Scottish Government recently withdrew a specific free speech amendment covering transgender identity after a backlash from trans activists, meaning that comments construed as potentially prejudiced against transgender people could lead to prosecution for hate crime.
It then tabled four options for a new ‘catch-all’ free speech clause which critics say are significantly narrower than the Bill as drafted.
Jamie Gillies, of the Free To Disagree campaign, said: ‘The response to this call for views suggests major disquiet about the shape of freedom of expression provisions in the Hate Crime Bill.
‘It’s vital that strong, clear and specific free speech protections are written into the Bill. Legislators must draw a clear line between that which is criminal and that which is merely offensive.’
Campaigners have urged MSPs to halt the passage of the Bill until after the election in May.
Civil liberties campaigner Peter Tatchell and former SNP deputy leader Jim Sillars were among a number of signatories to an open letter warning the prospect of workable safeguards being produced before the current parliament stops sitting next month are ‘entirely impracticable’.
The Bill faces its final parliamentary hurdle in a vote of MSPs in the next few weeks.
Last year, Monty Python star John Cleese warned the plan was a ‘disastrous’ attack on free speech. He said: ‘There is a whole form of over-sensitivity and I think some of it is because people who are trying to feel that they are very good people almost sit around waiting to be offended.’
A Scottish Government spokesman said: ‘The Bill does not prevent people expressing controversial, challenging or offensive views, nor does it seek to stifle criticism or rigorous debate in any way.
‘Following a justice committee session this week, a consensus is building towards new freedom of expression provision that protects groups targeted by hate crime and respects rights to free speech.’