Is this the beginning of the end for ‘unworkable’ law?
A BID to force Humza Yousaf to repeal his controversial hate crime legislation will be launched in the Scottish parliament this week.
MSPs will be asked to vote on a motion proposing that the Hate Crime and Public Order (Scotland) Act, which came into force earlier this month, is scrapped following concerns it is ‘unworkable’ and is placing too much pressure on the police.
More than 1,000 allegations of hate crime have been lodged by the public per day since it came into force.
Now MSPs will be put on the spot over whether they still support the Act, or will back its repeal.
When the legislation passed in 2021, it was backed by most Labour and Liberal Democrat MSPs, as well as by the SNP and the Greens.
Mr Yousaf forced it through as justice secretary, despite major concerns about the impact it would have on freedom of speech, including in private homes.
But other concerns have been raised by the Scottish Police Federation about the failure to provide extra resources to Police Scotland to handle the influx of complaints since a £400,000 Scottish Government public information campaign urged people to report cases.
Scottish Conservative leader Douglas Ross said yesterday: ‘Humza Yousaf’s hate crime law has proved to be as big a disaster as its numerous critics warned him it would be.
‘As well as being an unacceptable attempt to curtail free speech, it’s a bureaucratic nightmare for our overstretched police, who simply can’t cope with the deluge of complaints it’s led to.’
The Conservatives will use opposition business time on Wednesday to ask MSPs to vote on a motion which will state that the Act should be repealed.
Labour and Lib Dem MSPs who previously supported the legislation will be urged by the Tories to admit they got it wrong.
The Act introduced new offences for threatening or abusive behaviour which is intended to stir up hatred, which previously only applied to race – and the new law can even be broken through words said within private homes.
Offences are considered to be ‘aggravated’ if they involve prejudice towards attributes such as a person’s age, disability, religion, sexual orientation, transgender identity and variations in sex characteristics.
Figures show that there were 7,152 online complaints made to Police Scotland in the week running from Monday, April 1 – when the Hate Crime Act came into force – until Sunday, April 7.
Officers also dealt with 430 incidents in which a hate crime tag was added, while there were 34 calls to 101 or 999 related to a hate crime and 141 emails logged for the same purpose.
A Scottish Labour source said it had originally supported the legislation on the basis that misogyny would be among the behaviours addressed and said issues around communication and implementation are ‘where the problems really lie’.
Last week, party leader Anas Sarwar said: ‘The legislation has one major flaw, in that it doesn’t include sex and misogyny.
‘That was a promise that was made by Government that was going to happen very quickly; it hasn’t happened and that flaw has to be corrected. The communication of this has been woeful: ministers contradicting themselves often on the same day, never mind in the same week.’
A Scottish Government spokesman said: ‘The Hate Crime Act does not prevent people expressing controversial, challenging or offensive views – nor does it seek to stifle criticism or rigorous debate in any way and the right to freedom of expression is built into the Act.
‘It does, however, help to tackle the harm caused by hatred and prejudice and provide greater protection for people in society and communities who face hatred just because of who they are.
‘Police Scotland has been clear that demand continues to be managed within its contact centres and the impact on frontline policing has been minimal.’