FM ignored hate crime fears ‘week after week’

THE First Minister has ignored ‘week after week’ of serious warnings about the impact of his party’s controversial Hate Crime Bill, it was claimed yesterday.

Scottish Conservative leader Douglas Ross said the warnings have highlighted fears there will be hundreds of malicious complaints that will be used to tarnish the reputation of innocent people.

The law, which comes into force on Monday, will create an offence of stirring up hatred against protected groups.

In a letter to Holyrood’s criminal justice committee published this week, members of the Association of Scottish Police Superintendents said the legislation could be ‘weaponised’ by an ‘activist fringe’ across the political spectrum.

At First Minister’s Questions, Mr Ross raised the letter and said: ‘Humza Yousaf can see absolutely no flaws in his legislation that he put through this parliament despite the overwhelming evidence we are getting from frontline officers and many others.

‘The Hate Crime Act will come into force on April Fool’s (day) but it’s no joke.

‘Overworked, under-resourced police officers will be forced to deal with hundreds of malicious complaints.

‘Humza Yousaf’s law can be weaponised against people with opposing views. Police investigations will tarnish the names of innocent people and could silence them.’

He added: ‘This law is an overreach by the SNP. How long will it be before the Hate Crime Act goes the same way as Named Persons, Offensive Behaviour at Football, Gender Recognition Reform and every other flawed SNP law?

‘The problem is, First Minister, people will

‘It will be weaponised against people’

not be protected if the police cannot do their job. We have warnings week after week from officers on the front line, from the Police Federation and now from the Association of Scottish Police Superintendents.

‘They are giving as stark a warning as possible to this SNP Scottish Government that the Bill is flawed, it’s not going to do what MSPs supporting it wanted it to do, and those warnings are being ignored by Humza Yousaf.’

Mr Yousaf replied: ‘Of course we take seriously what was said by the Scottish Police Federation, ASPS or any other representative organisation representing police officers. But I think it is incumbent on me to say that the new offences in relation to stirring up are hugely important.

‘Those stirring up offences for racial hatred have existed since 1986, we are simply extending those protections to other groups.’

Mr Ross went on to quote the views of those – including senior Nationalist MP Joanna Cherry, KC – who believe the criminal investigation into complaints may be a punishment in itself for those targeted by police.

Mr Yousaf said he has ‘absolute faith’ in Police Scotland’s ability to weed out vexatious complaints.

Fears around the implementation of the Act reached boiling point when the Scottish Daily Mail revealed that Conservative MSP Murdo Fraser was the subject of a hate crime complaint made to Police Scotland following a social media post last year.

It was subsequently recorded as a non-crime hate incident and while it does not stem from the latest legislation, Mr Fraser raised fears that it will become a common experience for those who criticise government policies.

The ‘spurious complaint and police investigation against Murdo Fraser MSP is just the tip of the iceberg,’ said Mr Ross.

The First Minister stressed that such incidents have been recorded for ‘many years’ and were a recommendation of the 1999 Macpherson Inquiry into the racist murder of black teenager Stephen Lawrence in 1993.

He said other non-crime incidents are logged for offences including domestic violence.