Meeting of the Parliament 05 November 2014
I congratulate Labour on allocating its parliamentary time to a debate on this important issue.
Expressions of religious hatred, regardless of how they are articulated, are completely unacceptable in any civilised society, and I find it deeply depressing that in Scotland today sectarian divisions continue in some local communities, frequently manifesting themselves in so-called sectarian banter or in abuse, intimidation and harassment that can, at the extreme end of the spectrum, develop into violence.
As recently as April this year, sectarian tensions once again emerged at the Glasgow cup final between the Celtic and Rangers under-17 youth teams. The match should have provided an opportunity, first and foremost, for the young players to display their skills. Although that should have been the story that dominated the headlines next day, the occasion was virtually hijacked by both teams’ supporters, who for the duration of the match taunted and derided each other with derogatory comments and songs.
It is therefore little wonder that campaigners such as Nil by Mouth have argued that the Scottish Government and the football authorities are not doing enough to combat sectarianism. However, it is vital that, in seeking to tackle the problem, we do not narrowly restrict the focus to football alone but seek to adopt a holistic and consensus-driven approach.
Moreover, it is neither desirable nor possible to arrest our way out of this problem, which seems to be the intent behind the deeply flawed Offensive Behaviour at Football and Threatening Communications (Scotland) Act 2012. This fundamentally bad and poorly drafted legislation constituted a knee-jerk response to the something-must-be-done clamour, and it paved the way for the introduction of new criminal offences by statutory instrument without full and detailed parliamentary scrutiny and despite a distinct lack of consensus among key stakeholders.