SO WHERE WAS OUR MISSING JUSTICE MINISTER? ON HER HOLS... AND TRYING TO FINISH A JIGSAW!
IT was the question on everyone’s lips last week – where is the Justice Minister?
Despite the Government introducing one of the most seismic changes to Scottish criminal law in a decade – the Hate Crime Act – Angela Constance has been notable by her absence.
But The Mail on Sunday can today solve the mystery... she is on holiday!
And, on the day the new Act came into force, she posted on Instagram that she had just completed a 1,000-piece Great Gatsby-themed jigsaw. She even accompanied a video of the finished puzzle with Great Gatsbythemed music from the Czech National Symphony Orchestra.
Scottish Conservative justice spokesman Russell Findlay said: ‘Ministers are entitled to a break, but officers have the right to question why the SNP Justice Secretary has been posted missing.
‘While she was relaxing on holiday with a jigsaw puzzle, Scotland’s police officers were left picking up the pieces of this disastrous SNP law, which my party is determined to repeal.’
Although it has been public knowledge since February that the Hate Crime and Public Order (Scotland) Act 2021 would come into force on April 1 – and Ms Constance is likely to have known of the date even earlier – the Scottish Government yesterday confirmed she had chosen last week to take leave.
A spokesman added: ‘We do not disclose Cabinet Secretary or Ministers’ leave locations.’
When junior Minister for Community Safety Siobhian Brown was asked if she thought it was appropriate that Ms Constance was on leave, she replied: ‘This [the Hate Crime Act] is under my portfolio.’
Although it has been decided by the Scottish Government that Ms Brown will oversee the Act, the Justice Secretary position held by Ms Constance is intrinsically linked with the laws.
Humza Yousaf held the post when he first brought the Bill to Holyrood, saying it sent a ‘strong and clear message to victims, perpetrators, communities and to wider society that offences motivated by prejudice will be treated seriously’.
It is also under the remit of the Justice Secretary to ensure that ‘criminal law reflects the needs of society’, according to the Scottish Government website.
Mr Yousaf last week hit out at Scottish Labour and the Scottish Lib Dems, who both voted for the Bill in 2021, for not speaking out against its detractors.
Yet, while accusing them of ‘running for the hills’, his own Justice Secretary was also silent.
Ms Constance has been approached for comment.