Hate law branded a ‘clype’s charter’
‘Sinister police billboards’ instruct Scots to turn informant, say Tories
HUMZA Yousaf’s hate crime law is a ‘clype’s charter’ that must be repealed at once, it was claimed yesterday.
Scottish Conservative justice spokesman Russell Findlay said it had turned Scotland into a place of ‘sinister police billboards instructing people to snitch on those who hurt their feelings’.
He also accused the Scottish Government of having a ‘sneering sense of moral superiority’ over the shambolic Hate Crime Act whilst failing to tackle the issues that truly matter.
The Scottish Conservatives forced a vote on removing the law at Holyrood yesterday amid concerns of its impact on free speech and an already over-burdened police force. Even one of the First Minister’s own MSPs rebelled against the law, which allows police to record details of complaints even when they are not deemed to be criminal.
SNP veteran Fergus Ewing described the imposition of noncrime hate incidents (NCHI) as a ‘perversion’ of the justice system.
His comments came after Conservative MSP Murdo Fraser previously revealed his name had been logged on the NCHI database after a complaint was made against him, without his knowledge.
But the Conservative motion was eventually defeated by 69 votes to 49, with five abstentions.
Mr Findlay told MSPs: ‘From April Fool’s Day, [the Act] has transformed Scotland into a place of international mockery.
‘It has transformed the birthplace of the Enlightenment into a place where free speech has been debased and devalued – a place of sinister police billboards instructing people to snitch on those who hurt their feelings.
‘Welcome to Scotland, home of Humza Yousaf’s hate crime law, aka the clype’s charter.’
Mr Findlay, a former journalist, said the process of police investigation under the Act could be seen as a punishment.
He added: ‘Being subject to an investigation can be daunting, disruptive, humiliating and financially costly. Police arriving at your home or workplace, taken away in handcuffs, phone seized, forced to pay for a lawyer – stigmatising and damaging to personal reputations and employment prospects.’
The Hate Crime and Public Order (Scotland) Act creates new offences of threatening or abusive behaviour intended to stir up hatred.
Offences are considered aggravated if they involve prejudice towards characteristics including age, disability, religion, sexual orientation, transgender identity and variations in sex characteristics
Mr Ewing hit out at the poorly drafted legislation yesterday and called for it to be overhauled.
He accused ministers of ‘sitting on the sidelines as spectators’ as police struggled to cope with the deluge of complaints being made under the law, which has reached more than 9,000 in its first two weeks.
The MSP for Inverness and Nairn said he was particularly alarmed at the use of NCHIs.
He said: ‘I don’t remember the chapter about non-crime hate incidents. In fact, I don’t remember any chapter about incidents.
‘What are incidents? In Scotland, if someone is charged with a crime, they have the right to defend themselves. The right to a fair trial. That is our system. This does not apply to these incidents.
‘Is it not even more insidious, actually, that you can have a black mark in your name without even knowing about it?
‘I mean, in what sort of democracy are we living in here? I used to read serious novels – I don’t any longer – but I remember reading Franz Kafka, and that’s the name that springs to mind here, because this is not a feature of western democracy where the right to a free trial is a cornerstone, a pillar, of our system.
‘It’s an abnegation of that. And why are we tolerating it?’
He said there was now a ‘strong case’ that the hate crime law should be reformed in a number of ways to
‘Free speech has been debased’
end what he said was ‘a perversion on our justice system’.
Mr Fraser has threatened to take legal action over the recording of his name on an NCHI.
He said: ‘It is not just the Scottish Conservatives who are calling for this Act to be repealed. That may be the case in this chamber, but in wider Scottish society our call is one which has extensive backing.’
Figures showed there were 1,832 online reports of hate crime in the second week of the legislation from April 8-14, meaning there are still around 262 complaints per day.
Responding to the criticism, Community Safety Minister Siobhian Brown urged all MSPs to ‘send a strong message to all those making vexatious complaints to stop doing so’.
Justice minister Angela Constance added: ‘I am confident that we have robust legislation that will protect those who are vulnerable to harm caused by hatred and prejudice, whilst protecting the freedom of expression. And it was parliament at its best.
‘I very much want to help to move matters on and reflect and address some of the substantive issues that members have raised.’