SCOTLAND’S new hate crime law came into force today, sparking immediate concerns on free speech and enforceability.
The Hate Crime and Public Order (Scotland) Act passed with cross-party support in Holyrood almost three years ago, with the stated intention of consolidation all hate crime legislation.
It also added an additional offence of stirring up hatred against those with protected characteristics.
But concerns have been raised that it could act as a brake on free speech, not least in the ongoing debate over Holyrood’s earlier legislation to allow self-identification of gender, later vetoed by the UK government.
Prominent campaigners against self-ID, such as author JK Rowling, SNP MP Joanna Cherry and former Scottish Labour leader Johann Lamont opposed the new Act, arguing it added no new protections for women, while the third-party right of complaint could make those with gender-critical views targets over allegations such as “misgendering.”
Posting on X (formerly Twitter) Ms Lamont stated: “There is anxiety as we have seen what the process of being accused of hatred has meant.
“Strong women put through the mill simply for daring to speak up for women.”
Challenged on Monday’s BBC Radio 4’s Today programme the question of “misgendering” becoming a hate crime, SNP’s minister for victims and community safety Siobhian Brown said: “It could be reported and it could be investigated — whether or not the police would think it was criminal is up to Police Scotland.”
Police Scotland has admitted to a Holyrood committee that only 10,000 of its 16,363 full-time equivalent officers had received training on the new law and their ability to make that assessment has been called into question.
Scottish Police Federation general secretary David Kennedy said “Our biggest complaint right from the beginning of this is there’s been no extra money given to the police service to provide the extra training.
“Two hours of online training is all we’ve had.”
First Minister Humza Yousaf responded to questions on the enforcement of the legislation.
He said: “It is not ‘Twitter police,’ it is not activists, it is not the media, it is not, thank goodness, even politicians who decide ultimately whether or not a crime has been committed.
“It will be the police who investigate and the crown, and the threshold for criminality is incredibly high; in fact it is higher than racial stirring-up offence which has existed without controversy since 1986.”
