SNP MP Joanna Cherry KC has accused Scottish police chiefs of “McCarthyism” in their approach to tackling ‘hate incidents’, and said that the zeal with which the national police force goes after alleged ‘offenders’ is tantamount to a witch hunt against certain political views. The Mail has the details:
The MP led a backlash in support of Conservative MSP Murdo Fraser, whose criticism of Scottish Government transgender policy was logged as ‘hate incident’, despite not crime having been committed.
She said Police Scotland now needed to review its policy on ‘non-crime hate incidents’ amid concerns it was attempting to curb free speech.
Ms Cherry, MP for Edinburgh South West, wrote on social media: “There’s not much Murdo and I agree about, but we do agree about freedom of speech, so I support him fully in this legal action.
“Police Scotland are well aware that their policy of recording ‘non-crime hate incidents’ needs to be reviewed. This McCarthyism needs to stop.”
Mr Fraser said the force had “behaved not just outrageously, but unlawfully”, after learning that his name appears in police files for expressing a political view.
A trans activist reported a post on X, formerly Twitter, to Police Scotland. Officers decided it did not amount to a crime but should be classed as a ‘hate incident’ which will remain on record – even though no law had been broken.
Joanna Cherry’s intervention follows the revelation that Mr Fraser, MSP for Mid Scotland and Fife, is considering legal action against Police Scotland over the way it categorised the incident.
The complaint was made to police by a trans activist after Mr Fraser shared a column written by Susan Dalgety for The Scotsman on November 18th last year, which claimed the SNP Government’s non-binary equality action plan would lead to children being “damaged by this cult”.
Ms Dalgety yesterday said: “As the author of the column which Murdo Fraser retweeted and was reported for ‘hate crime’, I am understandably concerned that other work by me has been reported to Police Scotland as ‘hate crimes’.
“Completing a subject access request now – though can’t quite believe I am having to do this.”
Mr Fraser said the officer who followed up determined that “although no crime had been committed and the police would conduct no further investigation, the perception of the complainant meant that my post would be recorded as a ‘hate incident’, and a reference number was provided to the complainant”.
The MSP only found out about the ‘hate incident’ because the same activist had complained to the ethical standards commissioner of the Scottish parliament about the tweet.
The complaint was not taken forward but as a result of this process Mr Fraser was alerted to the police report.
On December 21, 2023, Mr Fraser wrote to Chief Constable Jo Farrell asking for a meeting to discuss the matter. The local area commander for Perth and Kinross replied on March 11th this year.
He confirmed that a ‘hate incident’ had been recorded based on the victim’s perception, that there was no associated criminal investigation, but that the incident would remain on police records “in line with national guidance”.
Mr Fraser called in the Free Speech Union to back a legal challenge on the basis that Police Scotland has ‘adopted a cavalier and disrespectful attitude towards me and my rights to freedom of expression and privacy, and the right to be informed of false and damaging information held on police records’.
The MSP argues that the filing of the hate incident breaches laws including the Human Rights Act.
Worth reading in full.
