Leader: Rushing legislation through may create problems

Legislation drafted in haste often leads those who drafted it repenting at leisure. That is the danger inherent in the Scottish Government's plans to push new anti-sectarianism laws at Holyrood in a matter of weeks to have them on the statute book by the start of the football season.

Few in Scotland dispute there is a sectarianism problem which has to be tackled. Recent disgraceful events involving Celtic and Rangers shamed football and shamed Scotland. The SNP government's response is the Offensive Behaviour at Football and Threatening Communications (Scotland) Bill.

The Bill raises a number of questions. First, do we need legislation? There are a panoply of existing offences with which violence or abuse arising from sectarianism could be dealt. Extending the scope of the law to cover matches abroad is more than welcome, but the breadth of the proposals leaves much to the interpretation of individual officers and that raises not inconsiderable civil rights issues.

The Bill creates an offence of offensive behaviour related to football, to deal with "sectarian and other offensive chanting". It will be a crime to express or incite religious, racial or other forms of hatred. One does not have to be a QC to see the word "other" as problematic. Could any kind of chanting, say the kind that currently passes for terracing banter, be included? It is not clear. And what exactly is behaviour which would be offensive to "any reasonable person"?

Then there is the offence of "threatening communications" to combat abuse and sectarian incitement, including online. This will include things like putting bullets in the post - a fairly obvious threat, but one which can be dealt with under existing law. Of the promise to deal with threats on the internet, there was little detail in the government's statement.

Given the maximum sentence for being convicted of one of these offences will be five years or an unlimited fine, greater clarity is needed, something the SNP convener of the justice committee, Christine Grahame, has demanded. Ms Grahame is unlikely to block the Bill, but has sensibly suggested putting in a "sunset clause" in which the legislation can be revisited. A further shot across the government's bow came from the Law Society of Scotland which warned the lack of scrutiny could lead to flawed legislation which would then be open to legal challenge.

The problem of sectarianism in Scotland must be tackled collectively, with leadership from politicians and, in the case of football, from managers and players. An immediate measure of success or otherwise will be the turn-key's workload at Govan police station on the night of 17 September after the first Old Firm clash. But it is to be hoped that what is a well-intentioned attempt to deal with Scotland's running sore does not have unintended consequences. Of course there's always an appeal to the Supreme Court…