Hate crime law ‘unworkable’ and at risk of failing, warns Jack McConnell

The former first minister said he had watched recent events in Scotland ‘with my head in my hands’

Controversial new hate crime laws appear to be “unworkable” and are in danger of failing, former first minister Jack McConnell has warned.

Lord McConnell said he had “watched events in Scotland over recent days with my head in my hands”.

Writing in the Sunday Mail, he said the Hate Crime Act is “in danger of going the same way” as the Offensive Behaviour at Football Act, which was repealed in 2018.

Former health secretary Jeane Freeman (Pic: PA)

It came as Jeane Freeman, a former SNP health secretary, criticised the Scottish Government’s handling of the new legislation, saying it lacked “political nous”.

Police have reportedly been inundated with around 8,000 complaints since the Act came into force on April 1. There were concerns about a further spike around the Old Firm game.

It is understood the force received a “small number” of reports relating to hate crime during the match and these are now being assessed.

The Scotsman previously told of fears Police Scotland may be forced to reduce services or make cuts due to the burden of dealing with the new law.

David Threadgold, chair of the Scottish Police Federation (SPF), said overtime payments for control room staff will have "consequences".

Lord McConnell, who was Scottish Labour leader and first minister from 2001 to 2007, said the Offensive Behaviour at Football Act previously “polarised people and increased division”, and was later repealed.

He said: "The new Scottish Hate Crime Act is in danger of going the same way. And this was entirely predictable. Tight budgets set by SNP/Green ministers mean Police Scotland already don’t follow up every crime.

“Now they must deal with all these potential offences, many of which are simply spurious. Instead of healing division and changing attitudes, Scottish ministers have created a law that seems unworkable. And on a key flashpoint with this legislation – the arguments between feminist and transgender campaigners – excluding crimes against women from the Act has inflamed the situation with many women feeling their concerns are ignored.

“This is exactly what good legislation should seek to avoid. Good political leadership should try to win the argument, build a consensus not sow division. The early years of the Scottish Parliament showed how to use the powers of home rule to legislate well and lead change in Scotland, but this Hate Crime Act looks like the opposite. And that is why it might fail.”

Speaking on BBC Scotland’s Sunday Show, Ms Freeman, who was health secretary from 2018 to 2021, voiced her frustration with “the level of misinformation” around the legislation, but also with how the Scottish Government had handled it.

"My impression, and it’s only an impression, is that the furore and nonsense and genuine concerns – because it’s been a mix – that we’ve seen over over the past week has caught the Scottish Government by surprise,” she said. "And I really do not think it is beyond the wit to plan for and prepare that this particular piece of legislation, coming at this particular point in the electoral cycle, will be used, if you leave loopholes in it and don't set out clearly what it does and what it doesn’t do, by those who oppose your political stance overall as a Government.”

The Hate Crime Act consolidates existing hate crime legislation and creates a new offence of stirring up hatred against protected characteristics, including age, sexual orientation and transgender identity. A stirring-up offence on the basis of race has been on the statute book in Scotland since 1986.

Ms Freeman said misogyny should have been included in the Act, adding: “My own view is that was a loophole that you left in the legislation wide open to be exploited. That’s about political nous, frankly.

"So I have two sets of conflicting frustrations. One about how this has been handled, prepared for and presented, and the other being how it has been mishandled and misinformed in a lot of the presentation and comment.”

The Scottish Government has promised to bring forward separate legislation to tackle misogyny.

Greens co-leader Patrick Harvie also condemned the “deplorable levels of misinformation” during an interview on the Sunday Show.

He said: “I genuinely would appeal to those who are creating this misinformation and creating this wave of confusion and hostility, think about the real-world consequences of your actions because this is emboldening not the online keyboard warriors, not the people who get to write angry columns in newspapers, it is emboldening the worst elements of our society who genuinely do pose a threat of outright abuse and violence against marginalised and vulnerable people.”

He said those people peddling false information had a “heavy price on their conscience”.

First Minister Humza Yousaf previously appealed to “bad actors” to stop spreading “misinformation” about the legislation.

He said: “There’s deliberate misinformation being peddled by some bad actors across Scotland – it’s hardly surprising the Opposition seek to do that. What we’ve got is a piece of legislation that in the actual Act itself, explicitly in black and white, protects freedom of expression, freedom of speech.

“At the same time, it makes sure that it protects people from hatred being stirred up against them, and that is really important when we have far too many incidents of hatred that can be because of their age, disability, sexuality or religion."

He added: “There’s no place for that in Scotland, and you have to send a really strong signal that the law will protect you.”