Meeting of the Parliament (Hybrid) 09 September 2020
The racial stirring-up offence has existed since 1986—for 34 years. In my reading of it—I am happy for anybody to challenge me—I have not been able to find a single case in which there has been a controversial prosecution of that stirring-up offence. All that we are doing, in essence, is replicating the language, although we are actually not quite replicating the language, because we are making the threshold even higher. We are removing the insulting threshold that currently exists. I see Liz Smith shaking her head, but that is what we are doing. If that protection has worked for 34 years without much controversy as far as I can see—as I say, I am happy to be challenged on that—why would it suddenly become controversial if it applied to someone because they were disabled or because of their sexual orientation, for instance?
I do not dispute that the Parliament should have time to debate the bill. It has been three years in the making, from when Lord Bracadale began his review. He spoke to many stakeholders, there was a Government consultation and roadshows went across the country—I attended a number of them myself. We now have six months of this parliamentary session remaining, with three months until we are due to have the stage 1 report. I think that that is enough time.
However, I put on record that, if we have to work during the recesses, I will make myself available during the recesses and that, if it means working at weekends, I will make myself available to work at the weekends. We should not delay the bill any further, because the vital protections that it will guarantee and afford people in law are not something that can be waited for.
One particularly powerful contribution that I read in preparing for today’s debate came from Kate Wallace, the chief executive of Victim Support Scotland. She has said clearly that victims who are targeted by hate cannot afford to wait another parliamentary term for those protections. That is hugely important.