Meeting of the Parliament (Hybrid) 15 December 2020
I start by echoing some of the comments that Liam Kerr made about the committee and the drafting of its report. I pay tribute to the clerks, to all those who gave evidence and to the committee members who took evidence, including my colleague James Kelly.
I joined the committee as the report was being drafted and, to be frank, I was expecting to join a bit of a rammy. However, that was not the case, and that is down to everybody who works with and in the committee. All worked hard to ensure that the committee could reach consensus and I believe that, by doing so, and if the cabinet secretary continues to work with us, we can pass good legislation that will stand the test of time. There are many complex points of law to be considered, but paramount is the balance between freedom of speech and protection from hate speech.
Scottish Labour is supportive of the overall principles of the Hate Crime and Public Order (Scotland) Bill and agrees that it is important to consolidate hate crime legislation. However, we have concerns about the way in which the bill has been drafted. It is welcome that the cabinet secretary has on several occasions listened to concerns, and I hope that he will continue to do so. Although the changes that he has accepted are welcome, I believe that he must go further to meet all the concerns that have been expressed about the bill.
There are concerns about whether to add sex as a characteristic in the bill. There is concern that leaving it out might give a signal that hate crime that is based on sex and misogyny is in some way of lesser importance than other hate crimes. There are also concerns that the promised legislation to deal with misogyny may never transpire.
In Scotland, we know that violence against women is not only about hatred; it is about control and inequality. Engender pointed out that both the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women and the Council of Europe’s Istanbul convention on preventing and combating violence against women and domestic violence suggest a presumption against gender-neutral laws that protect men and women in exactly the same way, because those seldom protect women, given that men and women are not equally empowered. That concern has been expressed by Engender, Zero Tolerance, Scottish Women’s Aid and Rape Crisis Scotland, which oppose a sex aggravator and support separate legislation that incorporates the societal issues that underpin misogyny and violence against women.
Scottish Labour welcomes the working group on misogynistic harassment, and agrees that provisions and protections must reflect the serious nature of violence against women. However, we share concerns about the delay, and we reserve our position on adding sex as an aggravator, in order to avoid a hierarchy of protections. We therefore agree with the committee that the working group should report within a year, in order to allow timely implementation of its recommendations, and we will reflect on what may be required between then and the finalisation of the bill.