A former SNP cabinet minister has accused Humza Yousaf’s government of botching the introduction of hate crime laws as a poll showed it is supported by just one in five Scots.
Jeane Freeman, who was health secretary when the controversial laws were passed three years ago, claimed the scale of the response had shocked ministers and criticized the government for failing to effectively explain the scope of the legislation to the public.
She said excluding women from the laws, which provide new protections for men who identify as women and cross-dressers, had been a blunder that exposed a lack of “political unrest”.
Her stinging intervention came as it emerged that Police Scotland had been inundated 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 Sunday’s Rangers vs Celtic Old Firm match.
Meanwhile, a new poll found that just 21 percent of Scots wanted to keep the legislation, while more than twice as many, 45 percent, thought it should be scrapped. Nearly one in three SNP voters (31 percent) are among those who believe the law should be repealed.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 could cause.
SNP politicians also repeatedly refused to clearly clarify the extent to which “misgendering” a trans person, that is referring to them as a member of their biological sex rather than a self-identified gender identity, would become illegal.
Intentionally provocative
Police took no action against writer JK Rowling when they summoned a series of high-profile trans women to men in a deliberately provocative social media post on the first day the legislation came into effect.
Ms Freeman, who resigned from Holyrood at the 2021 election, said she had “huge frustration” at the way the introduction of the new laws had gone.
While accusing the media and some commentators of spreading “misinformation”, Ms Freeman also criticized the government’s handling of the issue.
“My impression is that the furore, nonsense and genuine concerns, because it is a mix, that we have seen over the past week have taken the Scottish Government by surprise,” she told BBC Radio Scotland.
“I really don’t think it’s too smart to plan and prepare for this particular piece of legislation, coming at this particular point in the election cycle, to be used if you leave loopholes in it and no clarity as to what it is and does not, by those who oppose your political position as a government in general.”
Ms Freeman said the refusal to include misogyny in the legislation was such a ‘loophole’, which was ‘wide open to be exploited’ by opponents, and insisted she had protested against this omission at the time.
The hate crime bill was piloted through Holyrood in March 2021 by Humza Yousaf while Nicola Sturgeon was first minister, but enforcement began last week.
“I have two conflicting frustrations,” added Ms. Freeman, who voted for the bill. “One is about how this has been handled, prepared and presented, and the other is about how it has been mishandled and misinformed in many of the presentations and comments.
“I’m getting a little tired of reading things that say ‘we consulted stakeholders’. That is amazing. But that is not the same as broader consultation. It is not beyond the understanding of any government to do that well and in the right way.”
Protecting women
Russell Findlay, justice spokesman for the Scottish Tories, said Ms Freeman was right to say the law should have protected women, but that “people may wonder why she still voted for it”.
He added: “Her scathing attack on the incompetence of her former SNP government colleagues is welcome but will come as cold comfort to women’s rights activists and police officers dealing with the flood of complaints.”
The new poll, which showed only one in five voters wanted to keep the law, was carried out by polling firm FindOutNow, on behalf of Alex Salmond’s Alba Party.
When undecided Scots were removed from the figures, 68 percent wanted the new law scrapped just days after it was introduced.
When the legislation was passed by Holyrood, Police Scotland said it expected the number of new offenses reported would be “likely to be minimal and could be dealt with within the [force’s] normal daily activities”.
However, David Kennedy, general secretary of the Scottish Police Federation, which represents officers, said the new law was “a disaster and officers are being swamped by a flood of complaints.”
Meanwhile, Jack McConnell, the former Labor prime minister, described the new laws as “unworkable”.
Writing in the Sunday Mail, he said officers would have to deal with many ‘simply false’ complaints amid tight police budgets.
“The arguments between feminist and transgender activists – the exclusion of crimes against women from the law – have fueled the situation, with many women feeling their concerns are being ignored,” he wrote.
“This is exactly what good legislation should try to avoid.”
A Scottish Government spokesperson said: “The Hate Crime Act will help tackle the harm caused by hate and prejudice and provide greater protection for victims and communities. The legislation does not prevent people from expressing controversial, challenging or offensive views, nor does it in any way attempt to stifle criticism or vigorous debate, and the right to freedom of expression is specifically built into the law.
“The law has a high threshold for crime. For the new violations in the legislation, it must be proven that the behavior is threatening and/or insulting and is intended to incite hatred.
“We know that the impact on those on the receiving end of such behaviour, whether physical, verbal or online attacks, can be traumatic and life-changing and we want to protect those affected.”