Bill ‘strikes right balance and will help protect victims of hate crime’

The Bill will bring hate crime legislation into one statute, making the law easier to understand and more user-friendly.

Crucially, the Bill also offers greater protection for victims of and groups affected by hate crime.

Hate crime has real life consequences – to be attacked or targeted simply because of who you are is a frightening experience.

I have been on the sharp end of bigoted abuse and know too well the hugely damaging impact it can have, not just on the individual but on families and wider community.

Since the introduction of the Bill there has been much debate around freedom of speech. While there is legitimate debate to be had, some criticism has misrepresented what the Bill does.

I firmly believe the Bill strikes the right balance between respecting freedom of speech and tackling hate speech.

The Bill will not prevent people expressing controversial, challenging or even offensive views, as long as this is not done in a threatening or abusive way that is intended to stir up hatred or likely to stir up hatred.

The Bill operates within a context that the “stirring up of hatred” offences cannot unduly inhibit freedom of expression protections set out in the European Convention of Human Rights.

Stirring up hatred can incite people to commit offences against individuals in the targeted group and contribute to an atmosphere in which prejudice is accepted as normal. That is not the Scotland I want.

This approach is not new – the existing offences of stirring up racial hatred have been in force in Scotland since 1986.

Similar offences have existed since the Race Relations Act 1965.

The Bill has received support from a number of organisations – including the Equality Network, Victim Support Scotland, Engender, the Humanist Society of Scotland and the Scottish Council of Jewish Communities.

We are determined to do everything it takes to ensure Scotland is a place where there is zero tolerance of hate crime.

This Bill will play an important part in realising this.

Justice Secretary Humza Yousaf