Meeting of the Parliament (Hybrid) 11 March 2021
I will come to that in my speech, if Johann Lamont lets me proceed.
Who could argue with protecting minority groups? The bill consolidates and modernises existing hate crime legislation following the hate crime review that was undertaken by Lord Bracadale, for which there was cross-party support in June 2018.
The attention that has been given to the bill has brought home the importance of freedom of expression and why it must be protected. I fully understand the concerns in that regard. However, the freedom of expression amendments that were agreed to yesterday—particularly amendment 1, in the name of Adam Tomkins—should reassure people that the bill does not stifle discussion, opinion or challenging views. We witnessed that in the very passionate debate that was held in the chamber last night.
I thank Adam Tomkins for lodging amendment 1 and for the consensual way in which, as convener, he steered the committee through the bill. I also echo his comments from yesterday about the intensive scrutiny that that issue in the bill, and the bill in general, has been under. I am just sorry that the Tories have said that they will not support it tonight.
I also thank the cabinet secretary for his willingness to engage at every level of the bill—[Interruption.] I am sorry, but I do not have time to take an intervention. The cabinet secretary engaged not only with the committee but with an extensive range of stakeholders in order to take their advice and listen to their views.
It is crucial to remember that there is a reasonable person defence and a very high bar before conduct is criminalised. All alleged offences have to be proved beyond reasonable doubt in court. Some people will say that the amendments that were agreed to yesterday go too far, and some will say that they do not go far enough. This is a very subjective issue.
We know that hate crimes are on the rise. They threaten community cohesion and are an extremely distressing and pernicious form of criminality, ruining and endangering lives with their cruelty. The fact that minority ethnic groups experience two thirds of all race-related hate crime shows that we have much more to do to overcome prejudice. The cabinet secretary was persuaded that it was not necessary or appropriate to include race in the freedom of expression provision because, among other unintended consequences, that would leave Scotland with less protection than the rest of the UK. I fully support that decision.
There is a clear need to tackle misogyny and gender-based prejudice in Scotland. I have a lot of sympathy for Johann Lamont’s amendments, and I admire the passionate manner in which she has articulated them and in which she has fought for women’s rights over many years. However, I disagree with her for all the reasons that were outlined by my colleague Annabelle Ewing yesterday. Systemic misogyny needs more than a sex aggravator. All the measures to tackle misogyny in the past have not worked. The fact that the Government has set up the misogyny and criminal justice in Scotland working group, which is to be led by Helena Kennedy, is testament to the overriding importance that we put on tackling the issue. It is time to tackle misogyny once and for all.