Introducing the Hate Crime and Public Order Act has proved to be a disastrous move for Scottish First Minister and leader of the hard-left Scottish National Party (SNP), Humza Yousaf.
A large proportion of the first 4,000 hate crime complaints, submitted after the law came into effect at the beginning of this month, were rather humiliatingly directed at Yousaf himself. Polling released over the weekend also suggests that in the few weeks that the hate crime law has been in place, Yousaf’s popularity has plunged among Scots—including among SNP voters.
And now, the Scottish Conservatives are pushing a motion in Holyrood, the Scottish Parliament, proposing that the law be repealed. Tory Shadow Justice Secretary Russell Findlay complained that the legislation is taking too much of a toll on the country’s already “overstretched” police.
Findlay this week told his colleagues that the law “has transformed Scotland into a place of international mockery … where contentious discussions and disagreements in your own home can result in a knock at the door from the police. Where every single complaint, no matter how groundless or absurd, is subject to police investigation, while despairing officers are being told not to pursue real crimes.”
The motion to repeal this legislation is unlikely to pass, although The Daily Telegraph reports that it could “ramp up pressure” on Yousaf and Scottish Labour leader Anas Sarwar, whose party supported the Act, to reconsider their positions if enough backbenchers rebel.
Yousaf’s legislation creates a new crime of “stirring up hatred” against a range of groups, notably not including women. Only two of the first 7,000 hate crimes reported to and investigated by the police are being pursued, in a further sign of the law’s failure.
The first minister is also facing political difficulties on a number of other fronts, and has just had to drop a key climate pledge and—following the release of paediatrician Dr. Hillary Cass’ report into transgender treatment—perform a U-turn on the use of puberty blockers.
Rather than take notice of his accumulating failures, Yousaf has chosen to point the finger at “a number of bad faith actors.”
