Inside Holyrood: Holyrood's new puritans turn moral gaze to Sex Offences Bill

Published on Sunday 8 June 2008 22:10

A BATTLE for the very soul of Scotland will shortly erupt in Holyrood, when Kenny MacAskill, the justice secretary, lays the Sexual Offences Bill before parliament in the next week or so.

It is bound to draw lurid headlines and cause furious debate, creating divisions both between and within parties. But this bill will set the blueprint for the very nature of Scotland, and as such is one of the most important pieces of legislation the SNP has tackled to date.

Appropriately for the party's constant desire to model Scotland on Ireland and Norway, it will offer a choice between Scandinavian liberalism and Irish moral conservatism.

Such is the sensitivity over this bill that it is likely the word rape will not appear in its title. This should not hide the fact that one of the main reasons for it is the lack of successful rape prosecutions in Scotland. Only one in 25 leads to a conviction. Firstly, MSPs will have to decide what is meant by consent.

One area of contention which will cause some tittering is the proposal to decriminalise sadomasochism. The argument goes that consenting adults should not become criminals simply because they have a taste for whips and leather.

But Nigel Don, a justice committee member, has raised the fear that decriminalisation may open a loophole for domestic abuse. I understand his concerns have got civil servants looking at the proposal again.

The most headline-grabbing part of the bill will be the proposal from the Scottish Law Commission, partly supported the by Children's Commissioner, Kathleen Marshall, that teenagers under the age of 16 should be allowed to have sex with each other but not adults. Some fear this will push the age of consent down to 13, as it is in Spain. But with Scotland facing an increasing number of abortions and teenage pregnancies, there have been suggestions that legalising sex at 13 will be an invitation to Scottish youth to start copulating en masse. But many ask why should teenagers be turned into criminals for doing what comes naturally.

The mood in parliament is against the liberals. It has not been long since MSPs voted to turn kerb-crawlers into criminals, although it did not go as far as what community safety minister Fergus "Impound their Cars" Ewing wanted.

With drinking and smoking, Holyrood's new puritans took a morally conservative line – telling people what is good for them rather than letting them decide for themselves. So be prepared for more of the same with sex.