Scotland’s new hate crime law descends into disarray

I should be broadcasting to Australia right now, but I politely declined the request so I could write to you instead. I love my job as Scotland correspondent and, of course, lots of the topics I report on have global relevance. But it’s not every week that I’m fielding calls from international newsrooms desperate for me to explain the technicalities of the latest Holyrood parliament legislation.

So it was this week. The Scottish government’s new hate crime law is supposed to protect vulnerable communities from abuse. Instead, it has resulted in an almighty omnishambles that has dominated the headlines at home and abroad, with fierce arguments about the limits of free speech, police officers overwhelmed by thousands of potentially vexatious complaints and, most critically, the groups it was seeking to protect warning that the debate has veered too far from the reality of hate crime they experience on the streets of Scotland every day. I’ll explain what the law was designed to do and why it has proved so controversial after this morning’s headlines.

Five big stories

In depth: Defining hate

The Hate Crime and Public Order (Scotland) Act has two elements – it consolidates the existing law in Scotland on crimes that are “aggravated by prejudice”, including age for the first time in the list of protected characteristics, but it also creates a new offence of “threatening or abusive behaviour which is intended to stir up hatred” on the grounds of age, disability, religion, sexual orientation, transgender identity and variations in sex characteristics. These additional provisions add to longstanding offences relating to stirring up racial hatred, which have been in place across the UK since 1986.

The bill, which was spearheaded by Humza Yousaf, when the first minister was justice secretary, prompted extensive and angry debate as it passed through Holyrood in 2021. MSPs voted to strengthen freedom of speech provisions after earlier drafts provoked an outcry from religious and arts groups, and there were profound concerns that the “dwelling defence” was ditched, meaning that the new law applies in private homes as well as online. There was also outrage that women were not protected. Instead, the Scottish government agreed to follow Helena Kennedy’s working group, which recommended a standalone act to tackle misogynistic abuse but this has yet to be timetabled, adding to the frustration of gender-critical feminists who believe women’s protections are being downgraded.

And that is central to why this law has captured the limelight. This Holyrood debate is happening in the context of a global culture war around freedom of speech and the right to offend, and what some feminists believe is a clash between transgender rights and women’s rights. Since 2021 those divisions have only become more entrenched across the world and in Scotland the mood was heightened by another contentious piece of legislation, on gender recognition reform that was ultimately blocked by the UK government, which argued it cut across the UK Equality Act.

Despite repeated assurances from ministers about the balance with free speech, concerns grew that the new measures could be used maliciously against certain groups for expressing their opinions, in particular gender-critical feminists who wanted to state that sex is a biological fact and not affected by the gender someone chooses to identify with. Repeated assurances that these sorts of statements – misgendering, for example – were not a crime under the act did little to assuage critics, whose fears were amplified in certain sections of the Scottish media.

What actually happened in the first week?

The first week of the act has resulted in a deluge of complaints – which can be sent in using an online form. While Police Scotland say they are still collating figures, reports suggest up to 4,000 complaints were filed in the first 48 hours, an extraordinary number, and one the police are not set up to handle. Police Scotland is badly overstretched, with falling recruitment and rising absences for mental ill-health. The officers’ federation has also complained bitterly about the inadequacy of the two-hour online training module provided to navigate this complex and emotive territory.

A substantial number of those complaints, it is believed, related to a social media thread posted by author and prominent gender-critical feminist JK Rowling. In it, she challenged Police Scotland to arrest her after listing sex offenders who had described themselves as transgender alongside well known trans women activists, describing them as “men, every last one of them”. Police Scotland later confirmed this was not criminal, nor would it be logged as a “non-crime hate incident”, a method of recording that has been in place for many years as a means of monitoring community tensions.

Another chunk of the early complaints are thought to relate to a speech given by Yousaf himself in 2020, during which he highlighted the preponderance of white people in senior public roles. Police Scotland again confirmed that no crime had been committed in this case, nor was a non-crime hate incident recorded.

What does it mean for the SNP?

While the Scottish government has to take much of the responsibility for explaining their legislative intent to the public, let’s keep in mind that online disinformation and some mainstream media misreporting has played its part in this mess. Yousaf himself has robustly defended the act, pointing to racist graffiti targeting him, which appeared near his family home in Broughty Ferry on Monday, as a reason why there should be “zero tolerance” of hate in Scottish society.

But it’s noticeable that other senior government ministers have not been rushing to the microphone – it is the Easter holidays after all. (Nor have Labour or Lib Dem MSPs, the majority of whom also voted for the act in 2021. Perhaps they’re all at the same caravan park.)

It’s worth remembering that Lord Bracadale, whose 2018 review of hate crime law was the basis of the bill, envisaged that the prosecutions for stirring up hatred would be used sparingly – indeed, in England, a similar offence for stirring up hatred based on people’s sexual orientation has been prosecuted only a handful of times. He planned that the hate crime aggravations – an assault because someone is holding hands with a same-sex partner, the verbal abuse of a wheelchair user or hijab-wearer on public transport – would continue to be where the full force of the law was felt.

This chimes with what campaigners representing all the protected characteristics included in the new act have told the Guardian over the past week – they have grave concerns that this current hyper focus on social-media postings distracts from real-world hate crimes which, sadly, remain a daily occurrence on our streets.

What else we’ve been reading

• Come for the image of Tim Dowling immersed in a ball pit, stay for his attempt to find wonder in everyday life. Toby Moses, head of newsletters

• Frances Ryan’s searing Opinion piece on how disabled children are edited out of “perfect” school photographs is made all the more powerful by the number of other people who came forward with similar stories after the initial incident went viral. Libby

• Zoe Williams is characteristically brilliant on the end of the ex-MP gravy train: “There is no reason why they’d walk into jobs with businesses who are at the sharp end of a project that had ‘fuck business’ as one of its core principles.” Toby

• Peter Bradshaw counts down Marlon Brando’s top 20 performances, and somehow The Island of Dr Moreau doesn’t cut the mustard. Pah! Toby

• The Greens have their sights set on adding a second MP, targeting Bristol Central in the next general election. But first the council elections in May – and Steven Morris has spent time on the ground in the city with the councillors aiming to wrestle control from Labour. Toby

Sport

Football | Another decisive contribution from Alexis Mac Allister returned Jürgen Klopp’s team to the Premier League summit as Liverpool held their nerve to beat Sheffield United 3-1. Meanwhile Erik ten Hag blamed individual errors and poor decision-making for Manchester United’s second “unacceptable” capitulation in five days, after Cole Palmer seaked their 4-3 defeat at Chelsea with two added time goals.

Formula One | Lewis Hamilton has said he would “love it” if Sebastian Vettel made a return to the sport. The four-time world champion is being linked with the car vacated by Hamilton at Mercedes.

Cycling | Tour de France champion, Jonas Vingegaard, was taken to hospital with a broken collarbone after a serious crash on stage four of Itzulia Basque Country. He also suffered several broken ribs in the high-speed accident and his Tour defence is now in doubt.

The front pages

The Guardian leads with Joe Biden’s call for an immediate ceasefire in Gaza, warning that future US support for Israel depends on it taking concrete action to protect civilians and aid workers. The Telegraph has “Biden to Israel: stop killing civilians”. The i says “Sunak urged to publish legal advice on arms sales to Israel”.

The Times has a story on William Wragg: “Senior Tory: I gave MPs’ numbers to honeytrap”. The Mail says “Top Tory: I gave MP’s’ numbers to sex sting plotter”.

The Mirror has “Justice in the name of Sharon”, referring to a guilty verdict over the 2005 murder of police officer Sharon Beshenivsky.

The Express quotes a Home Office source as saying every loophole is being closed so as to allow migrants to be sent to Rwanda. “Make no mistake! Migrant flights to take off soon” is the headline.

The FT says “Chinese state banks hold key role in future of Thames Water”.

The Sun has a report on King Charles being keen to visit Australia in October.

Something for the weekend

Our critics’ roundup of the best things to watch, read and listen to right now

TV
Ripley
Netflix
Here he is, then: every ounce of his talent, ineffable charm and lightly reptilian hotness on display. Andrew Scott steps up to play Patricia Highsmith’s titular antihero in Netflix’s noirish black-and-white, eight-part adaptation of The Talented Mr Ripley (the first volume of a series of pulpy novels now known as the “Ripliad”). With those who find it initially slow, or the relentless monochrome beauty slightly exhausting or pretentious, I understand entirely. But stick with it; allow yourself to yield to both and let Ripley seduce you. There is magic at work here. Lucy Mangan

Music
Fabiana Palladino: Fabiana Palladino
Describing debut albums as long-awaited is par for the course, but in Fabiana Palladino’s case it’s true – it’s been 13 years since she started self-releasing her songs online. The official line is that Palladino’s eponymous debut took so long to arrive as a result of its author’s perfectionism, an excuse that’s surprisingly easy to believe when you hear it. The daughter of celebrated session bassist Pino Palladino has clearly made good use of the contacts on her dad’s phone. All 10 songs boast killer melodies – in a more just world recent single Stay With Me Through the Night would have been a huge hit, and the charts a brighter place for it – and Palladino’s voice has understated power. Alexis Petridis

Film
Monkey Man
Cinemas nationwide
Dev Patel brings the gonzo chaos starring in his very impressive writing-directing feature debut – a wildly over-the-top revenge action thriller on the teeming but uncliched streets of Mumbai, which doubles as a boisterous satire of Modi-esque nationalism. Patel shows us some pretty serious martial arts chops, kickboxing and thumping seven shades of ordure out of the punchbag, and then the bad guys – and periodically pausing, of course, attractively dropletted with sweat, to let us get an eyeful of those sculpted abs. His previous acting work didn’t obviously point to a kick-ass action career, although his performance in The Green Knight might have given us a hint. He’s evolved. Peter Bradshaw

Podcast
Kicking Back With the Cardiffians
BBC Sounds, episodes weekly
“I’m Cardiff-born, Cardiff-bred, and when I die I’ll be Cardiff dead.” So opens Charlotte Church’s new show, which gives listeners an insight into her home town. But it is just as much a series about family, love and working-class life, given it’s largely interviews with her relatives, friends and the local pub landlord. Expect a lively, warm listen that wears its heart on its sleeve and is “pretty sweary – because that’s just who we are”. Alexi Duggins

Today in Focus

Cartoon of the day | Ben Jennings

The Upside

A bit of good news to remind you that the world’s not all bad

Affecting 10 million people globally, Parkinson’s is a disease for which there is no known cure. New research, however, has found that a drug used in the treatment of type 2 diabetes could help slow its devastating impact.

In a French study of 156 people, a daily injection of the medication lixisenatide was found to slow the progression of motor problems in participants when compared to those who received a placebo. This, the researchers say, shows that lixisenatide can protect the brain against the loss of neurons, paving the way for further clinical trials.

Reacting to the research, Heather Mortiboys, a professor of cellular neuroscience and metabolism at the University of Sheffield, said: “The new clinical trial results for lixisenatide … represent a really promising and very exciting step forward in our research fight to get new drugs to the clinic for Parkinson’s.”

Sign up here for a weekly roundup of The Upside, sent to you every Sunday

Bored at work?

And finally, the Guardian’s puzzles are here to keep you entertained throughout the day. Until tomorrow.

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