Humza Yousaf is facing a vote at Holyrood to repeal his “disastrous” hate crime laws amid warnings that a deluge of complaints is placing an intolerable strain on Police Scotland.
As reported by the Telegraph, MSPs are to be asked to admit they made a mistake and back a Scottish Tory motion proposing that the Hate Crime and Public Order (Scotland) Act be repealed, barely a fortnight after it came into force.
Russell Findlay, the Tories’ shadow justice secretary, said thousands of complaints tabled under the legislation were taking a toll on the country’s “overstretched” police.
He warned the “increased workload is completely unsustainable” for the force, with officer numbers at their lowest level since 2008 and a new policy being introduced to turn a “blind eye to certain crimes”.
The motion is unlikely to pass when MSPs vote on it on Wednesday as the Tories were the only party to oppose the legislation during its passage at Holyrood in 2021. The SNP-Green coalition government has a majority.
However, it is likely to ramp up pressure on Mr Yousaf and Anas Sarwar, the Scottish Labour leader, in particular to think again if some of their backbenchers rebel.
The Hate Crime and Public Order (Scotland) Act, which was activated on April 1st, broadens the offence of ‘stirring up racial hatred’, extending it to the protected characteristics of disability, religion, sexual orientation, age, transgender identity and ‘variations in sex characteristics’.
The Bill won the backing of a majority of MSPs in March 2021, despite concerns that the entire section on stirring up hatred (section three) was “fundamentally flawed” and represented an “attack” on freedom of speech.
Activation of the legislation was then delayed while Police Scotland began the process of “training, guidance and communications planning”.
Putting aside race (which is handled slightly differently to the other protected characteristics) committing the ‘stirring up’ offence requires:
1) Behaviour or communication to another person of material that a “reasonable person” would consider threatening or abusive; and
2) Intention to stir up hatred against a group of persons defined by a protected characteristic.
As per the legislation’s protections for freedom of expression, it will not be deemed “abusive and threatening” to engage “solely” in “discussion or criticism” about age or any of the other protected characteristics.
Scots are also expressly permitted to voice “antipathy, dislike, ridicule or insult” for religion.
However, that carve-out does not apply to the legislation’s other protected characteristics, raising serious free speech concerns, not least for those who express gender critical beliefs and challenge basic tenets of gender ideology.
Predictably, the legislation has triggered a torrent of vexatious complaints since its activation. In the first week of the legislation, 7,152 online hate reports were made, though fewer than 4 per cent (240) were recorded as hate crimes. Police Scotland have pledged to investigate every report.
Mr Findlay said: “Humza Yousaf’s disastrous hate crime law has caused utter chaos in the fortnight since its introduction. It is proving every bit as unworkable as many critics warned – and must be repealed.
“As well as being an unacceptable risk to free speech, it is taking a huge toll on Scotland’s police officers. They’re being deluged with thousands of complaints – many of them vexatious from individuals out to settle scores.”
As reported in the Times, almost 1,000 new Scottish members have joined the FSU in the past fortnight, most of them women, and all concerned at the threat to free speech posed by the country’s draconian new law.
In response we’ve set up a Hate Speech Hotline in case any of them get into trouble with the police about something they’ve said. We’ve also put an arrangement in place with Levy & McRea, a top firm of criminal lawyers in Scotland, so if any of our members are arrested or interviewed under caution for something speech-related we can come to their aid.
Speaking to the Times about the work we’re doing to support our members, FSU General Secretary Toby Young said: “We felt we needed to put a hotline in place in case any of them get into trouble with the police about something they’ve said. If they’re arrested or interviewed under caution for something speech-related, we will do our best to get them a lawyer.”
The FSU is already supporting the Conservative MSP Murdo Fraser, who is considering a legal challenge against Police Scotland, which he claims has breached human rights laws, data protection laws and equality laws over its recording of a complaint against him as a hate incident. (You can find out more about Mr Fraser’s case here).
Neil Hay, of Levy & Macrae, said: “We are delighted to be appointed by the FSU to represent the interests of their members in this new and novel area of the law.”
If you’re an existing FSU member, you can find the Hotline number, as well as detailed instructions about what to do if you’re arrested in Scotland for a speech-related offence in the following set of FAQs
The Hotline number is also available to members in this separate set of FAQs, which answers questions about the new criminal offences created by the Hate Crime Act.
