Humza Yousaf hits back at 'Holyrood bubble' misinformation over Hate Crime Act

The First Minister has hit back at critics of his Hate Crime Act, insisting that fears about the law are merely “a Holyrood bubble story”.

First Minister Humza Yousaf, Photo: Jane Barlow/PA Wire

Vexatious complaints under Scotland’s controversial new Hate Crime Act will be taken seriously by police when the law comes into force from Monday, Humza Yousaf has warned.

Fears have been raised the legislation will curb freedom of speech and expression, and that police officers are not adequately prepared to enforce the new law.

But the First Minister insisted the Act balances protecting those who are “fearful of the current political discourse” with ensuring rights including “the freedom to offend” remain intact.

The law will create new stirring up of hatred offences for protected characteristics including age, disability, religion, sexual orientation and transgender identity.

These extra provisions will add to the long-standing stirring up racial hatred offences, which have been in place since 1986.

In order for an offence to be committed, the First Minister said, it would have to be proven the accused had intended to stir up hatred.

Under the law, offences are considered "aggravated" if they are motivated by prejudice on the basis of set characteristics, which could influence sentencing by judges. Crucially, a criminal act must have occurred for the hate crimes aggravator to be applied.

Opponents have suggested police could be deluged with complaints about statements people find offensive and some, including senior SNP MP Joanna Cherry, have claimed that being under investigation could be a punishment in itself.

Speaking to journalists at a soft play centre in Cumbernauld, Ms Yousaf said: “I would say to anybody who thinks they are a victim of hatred, we take that seriously, if you felt you are a victim of hatred, then of course reporting that to police is the right thing to do.

“If you’re thinking about making a vexatious complaint, if you’re thinking about making a complaint and there’s no merit in that, then do know that the police will take that serious in terms of tackling vexatious complaints and so I would urge you not to do it.”The First Minister said: “People have a right to report matters to the police if they believe a crime has been committed.

“And I would say to people the legislation makes it really clear what the potential threshold for a crime would be.”

He rejected suggestions the Hate Crime Act could go the way of other high-profile legislative U-turns under the SNP, such as the named persons scheme and the Offensive Behaviour at Football Act.

He said: “It definitely won’t (be repealed).”

Mr Yousaf downplayed the controversy over the Act and accused critics of spreading “disinformation and misinformation” about the impact of the legislation.

He said: “I’m very confident that we’ve got the balance right between extending protections to some of the most marginalised groups who absolutely need it in the rising tide of hatred that we’ve seen right across the world including Scotland and the UK.

“We’ve also got the balance right between that and making sure we’ve got freedom of expression protections and safeguards within our legislation. I’m quite confident we’ve got a really robust piece of legislation.”

Mr Yousaf highlighted “a lot of disinformation and misinformation in the last few weeks” over what will change under the Hate Crime Act, but insisted “it will do exactly what we expect it to do, which is to protect the most marginalised in our community”.

The First Minister suggested that the fears raised over the Hate Crime Act are not high on the agenda of the general public, painting the row as being limited to those at Holyrood.

He said: “For somebody who has knocked on a lot of doors and does on a regular basis, the Hate Crime Act, I can’t remember the last time it was actually referenced.

“I think some of the discussion around the Hate Crime Act, some of the misinformation and disinformation around it is frankly a bit of a Holyrood bubble story. I don’t think it really is permeating much more than that.”

Asked by The Scotsman about the impact the row and debate could be having on those vulnerable groups the legislation is intended to protect, the First Minister said: “I think it’s quite upsetting.”

He added: “There are a number of communities that feel very under threat.

“As a Muslim, in the Muslim community, there’s a lot of people who feel a rise of Islamophobia. I was talking to a Rabbi yesterday who was telling me there’s a real fear of the rise in anti-semitism, again within the UK. I was meeting with disabled people’s organisations last week who were telling me about the concerns they have got around the hatred against disabled people.

“A lot of marginalised groups I speak to are really fearful of the current political discourse globally, let alone what’s taking place in the UK and potentially Scotland here as well.”

He insisted that his legislation “has got that balance right”.

The First Minister said: “It protects those marginalised communities but also protects people’s freedom of speech.

“Freedom of speech, freedom to insult, freedom to criticise, the freedom for satire, the freedom to offend - those are all important freedoms in the bedrock of democracy. I believe within this Hate Crime Act, they are protected.”

Earlier this week Conservative MSP Murdo Fraser complained to Police Scotland over its handling of a hate crime complaint against him. He was reported to detectives following a post on X – formerly Twitter – in November.

The post was judged not to constitute a criminal offence, but was reported as a “hate incident”, rather than a hate crime, but the MSP has accused police of breaching the Data Protection Act, the Human Rights Act and the Equality Act.

“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,” he wrote in a letter to the force.

“In doing so, the police acted on the basis of a policy that is disproportionate, discriminatory, intrusive, irrational and otherwise unlawful.

“As I have set out above, Police’s Scotland’s current policy on the recording of hate incidents is not compliant with UK law and its actions in recording a hate incident connected to me is unlawful.”

But a spokeswoman for Police Scotland said it was important to “monitor tensions within communities” and that hate incidents were not logged against perpetrators.