Now Humza's facing threat of rebellion in ranks over hate law trends now
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Official campaign encouraged public to speak up
Humza Yousaf faces the threat of a rebellion over his controversial hate crime law unless he agrees to overhaul it.
The First Minister is under pressure from within the SNP to make changes in response to widespread concerns about the Hate Crime and Public Order (Scotland) Act.
It comes ahead of a Holyrood vote tomorrow on calls for the legislation, which came into force at the start of this month, to be repealed.
Senior legal figures and police officers are among those who have highlighted problems with implementing the law.
Lord Hope of Craighead, who was Scotland’s most senior judge as Lord Justice General and also Deputy President of the Supreme Court, last week said the hate crime law is ‘unworkable’ for the police, dismissing it as ‘gesture politics’.
First Minister Humza Yousaf's hate crime law has been dismissed as ‘gesture politics’
Thousands of allegations of hate crime have been lodged by members of the public per day since the legislation came into force.
One Nationalist MSP said: ‘I am critical of the law and think that it needs to be reformed to take account of Lord Hope’s critique; the massive waste of police time on investigating every complaint when only a tiny fraction go anywhere; the recording on a person’s record, without their even knowing about it, of a non-crime hate incident; and a lack of inclusion of women as a protected group. All these require reform.’
The Act introduces new offences for threatening or abusive behaviour which is intended
