by A former SNP cabinet minister has blamed Humza Yousaf’s government for introducing hate crime laws because a poll showed only one in five Scots support them.
Jeane Freeman, who was health secretary when the controversial laws were passed three years ago, claimed the scale of the backlash had baffled ministers and criticized the government for not effectively explaining the scope of the legislation to the public .
She said it was a mistake to exclude women from the laws, which offer new protections for men who identify as women and as crusaders, who revealed a lack of “political expression”.
Her intervention stung as it emerged that Police Scotland had been swamped with 8,000 hate crime complaints since the new laws were introduced just a week ago. These do not include a “small number” of hate crime reports made during the Rangers vs Celtic Old Firm game on Sunday.
Meanwhile, a new poll found that only 21 per cent of Scots wanted to keep the legislation, with more than twice as many, 45 per cent, believing it should be scrapped. Almost one in three SNP voters (31 per cent) are among those who believe the law should be repealed.
Before the legislation came into force, the SNP government and Police Scotland launched a controversial campaign urging the public to report incidents of “hate” and highlighting the hurt feelings words can cause.
SNP politicians also refused to make clear how illegal it would be to mislead a “transgender person”, meaning referring to them as a member of their biological sex rather than as a self-declared gender.
Intentionally provocative
Police took no action against author JK Rowling after she called out a series of high-profile trans men in a deliberately provocative social media post on the first day the legislation came into force.
Ms Freeman, who is standing down from Holyrood in the 2021 election, said she was “hugely frustrated” with how the introduction of the new laws had gone.
While she accused the media and some commentators of spreading “misinformation”, Ms Freeman also criticized the government’s handling of the issue.
“My understanding is that the Scottish government is surprised by the real concern, because of the mix, that we have seen over the last week,” she told BBC Radio Scotland.
“I really don’t think it’s beyond the scope of planning and preparation, that this particular piece of legislation, which is coming at this particular point in the election cycle, will be used if you leave loopholes in it , and not set out. clearly what it does and does not do, by those who oppose your overall political position as a government.”
Miss Freeman said the refusal to include misogyny in the legislation was one such, which was “wide open to exploitation” by opponents and insisted she argued against the inaction at the time.
Humza Yousaf led the Hate Crime Bill through Holyrood with Nicola Sturgeon as prime minister in March 2021, but enforcement began last week.
“I have two sets of conflicting frustrations,” said Ms. Freeman, who voted for the law. “One, how this was handled, prepared for and presented, and the other how it was mishandled and not informed in much of the presentation and commentary.
“I’m getting a bit tired of reading things that say ‘we consulted with interested parties’. That’s great. But that is not the same as wider consultation. It is beyond the power of any government to do that well and to do it right.”
Protecting women
Russell Findlay, the Scottish Tory justice spokesman, said Ms Freeman was right to say women should be protected by the law but people may wonder why she still voted for it. .
He added: “Her scathing attack on the incompetence of her former colleagues in the SNP government is welcome but it will be chilling for women’s rights campaigners and police officers who have to deal with the dismissal of complaints.”
The new poll, which was commissioned by Alex Salmond’s Alba Party, showed that only one in five voters wanted to keep the law, by polling firm FindOutNow.
When undecided Scots were removed from the figures, 68 per cent wanted the new law scrapped, just days after it was introduced.
When the legislation was going through Holyrood, Police Scotland said they expected the number of new offenses reported to be “likely to be small and could be accommodated within the following grounds: [force’s] normal day to day activities”.
However, David Kennedy, general secretary of the Scottish Police Federation, which represents officers, said the new law was “a disaster and officers are inundated with complaints.”
Meanwhile, former Labor First Minister Jack McConnell said the new laws were “unworkable”.
Writing in the Sunday Mail, he said officers would be left to deal with many “simply false” complaints amid tight police budgets.
“The arguments between feminist and transgender campaigners – not to exclude crimes against women from the act – have inflamed the situation and many women have felt that their concerns are not being taken into account,” he wrote.
“This is exactly what good legislation should try to avoid.”
A Scottish Government spokesman said: “The Hate Crime Act will help tackle the harm caused by hatred and prejudice and provide better protections for victims and communities. The legislation does not prevent people from expressing controversial, challenging or offensive views, nor does it seek to moderate criticism or serious debate in any way, and the right to freedom of expression is specifically enshrined in the Act.
“The Act has a high threshold for criminality. For the new offenses in the legislation, it must be proven that the behavior is threatening and/or offensive and that it is intended to incite hatred.
“We know that the impact of such behavior on those who experience it, whether it’s physical, verbal or online attacks, can be traumatic and life-changing and we want them protect those who are affected.”
