Hate crime law WILL apply in private homes
MSPs set to rubber-stamp Bill despite fears over free speech
FAMILY members face being criminalised at the dinner table after SNP ministers rejected a late plea to change their controversial hate crime law.
A bid to exclude comments made in private homes was rejected by Justice Secretary Humza Yousaf.
A marathon debate on the legislation continued until late into last night – and MSPs are expected to rubber-stamp the final Bill when they vote later today.
But the Bill has been heavily watered down following a series of U-turns on the most controversial elements after a backlash on the threat to freedom of speech.
During final debates on proposed amendments yesterday, Scottish Conservative justice spokesman Liam Kerr described it as ‘the most controversial Bill in parliament history’.
Proposals for offences of ‘stirring up hatred’ in the legislation have attracted a slew of criticism, with concerns raised that they could stifle freedom of speech.
Mr Kerr said: ‘Vital changes have indeed been made but, despite all the evidence taken, all the amendments at stage two, all the emergency sessions of the committee, significant concerns remain.’
He said there should be a ‘dwelling defence’ to protect ‘the right to a private family life’.
Adam Tomkins, who led scrutiny of the Bill as convener of the justice committee, said: ‘In order to commit a public order offence there needs to be a public element to what you do. You cannot commit riot in private and nor should you be able to be convicted of stirring up hatred if what you have done occurred in private, and if there was no public element.’
He added: ‘Imagine I have a family gathering, a Friday night supper, at which my unreconstructed and somewhat embarrassing elderly uncle makes disparaging remarks about a same-sex couple, and my somewhat over-sensitive 15-year-old daughter, offended at what she has heard, tells her best friend about what has been discussed around my family dinner time. Her friends’ father is a police officer and the next thing we know there is a knock at the door and my elderly uncle is under criminal investigation.
‘Is this really where we want the Hate Crime Bill to go? To family dinner table conversations, in private, with no public element? I don’t think so, and the justice committee didn’t think so either.’
The Bill had been due to go to a final vote at Holyrood last night – but this was postponed as MSPs clashed over more than 40 freedom of speech amendments. Following yesterday’s debates, Mr Kerr said: ‘Under pressure from the Scottish Conservatives, the SNP U-turned on some of the worst parts. We made Humza Yousaf back down – but he didn’t go far enough.
‘We remain opposed to the SNP’s Hate Crime Bill because it is a serious threat to freedom of speech. In particular, it risks what people can say in their own home, at their own dinner table.
‘We agree that hate crime should be tackled forcefully but threatening our fundamental right to free speech is too heavy a price to pay.’
Mr Yousaf said a private dwelling defence could be used by organised hate groups to meet in someone’s home where they could escape prosecution.
Urging MSPs to back the Bill, he added: ‘Every day in Scotland there are an estimated 18 hate crimes committed.
‘The effects of these crimes are felt deeply by those targeted and this prejudice has a pernicious effect on the health of a society and its communities. Not only that, the toll hate crime takes on its victims is immense.’
An amendment which was passed yesterday sought to enshrine in the Bill the right to ‘offend, shock or disturb’ in line with article 10 of the European Convention on Human Rights.
Mr Yousaf also backed an amendment which meant that criticism or discussion of ‘protected characteristics’ like race could not solely be taken as threatening or abusive. His amendment also goes further on the grounds of religion, adding that ‘antipathy, dislike, ridicule or insult’ of religions or those who hold religious beliefs does not by itself constitute threatening or abusive behaviour.
On social media, Jim Sillars, a former SNP deputy leader, said: ‘I regard this as one of the most pernicious and dangerous pieces of legislation ever produced by any government in modern times in any part of the United Kingdom.’