Hansard

That is a fair comment. However, we need to take seriously the concerns that have been expressed about the way that part 2 of the bill engages with those freedoms.

I will come on to the point about the timetable in a second. We cannot afford to make the moves that will be required to deal with part 2 through the stage 2 process. I welcome what I thought I heard the cabinet secretary say about introducing proposals ahead of our taking evidence at stage 1, so that we can test them as part of our scrutiny at stage 1.

The process has exposed the difficulties and risks, despite the best efforts of Lord Bracadale in laying the foundations for legislation that we want to see. Unfortunately, what has emerged since Lord Bracadale produced his report has not done justice to his efforts or, I believe, to the collective desire within and outwith the Parliament to update our laws in such a way as to provide legitimate and proportionate protections against the worst examples of hate crime.

Anything that manages to unite in common cause the Humanist Society of Scotland, the Catholic church, Police Scotland and the great and good of our arts and cultural community boasts impressive powers of cohesion. That is the claim that the justice secretary can now make of his bill. Indeed, the response to the Justice Committee’s call for evidence—some 2,000 submissions—lays bare the extent of the concerns felt by an impressively wide cross-section of stakeholders, many of whom made the same points in response to the Government’s earlier consultation.

The criticisms are largely focused on the impact that part 2 of the bill would have on freedom of expression. Few, if any, back the Tories’ calls for the bill to be ditched entirely. Indeed, I am not even sure that that position is backed by all those on the Tory benches who will speak in today’s debate.

How has the Government managed to antagonise so many so profoundly? It has done so by presenting to Parliament a bill that combines vagueness with mission creep. That bears uncomfortable echoes with what we saw at times with the now repealed Offensive Behaviour at Football and Threatening Communications (Scotland) Act 2012, in which the Government blundered into a complex area of law with an apparent lack of either care or understanding about the pitfalls and consequences. The intentions in the Hate Crime and Public Order (Scotland) Bill are undoubtedly more laudable, but the outcome could be even worse.

The Law Society of Scotland has expressed alarm at the creation of “unduly wide” new offences that will “restrict freedom of expression” and that lack clarity or “policy justification”. Scottish PEN warns of a

“substantial expansion in the criminal law.”

[Interruption.] No, thank you. In addition, the Scottish Police Federation has deep misgivings at the prospect of officers having to police speech.

Introducing stirring-up offences without any requirement to prove intent, unlike with similar laws elsewhere in the UK, risks creating a catch-all offence with the genuine potential to catch all. It is little wonder that artists, authors and journalists are so dismayed and warn that the bill risks “stifling freedom of expression”. They argue that

“The right to critique ideas, philosophical, religious and other must be protected to allow an artistic and democratic society to flourish.”

That theme is repeated by the Scottish Newspaper Society and the Humanist Society Scotland.

The justice secretary insists that he hears the concerns, and I believe him, but he must do more than that. I see him nodding. I think that I heard him commit earlier to come back to the Justice Committee before it begins its stage 1 oral evidence to set out his proposals in response to the objections. We need those proposals so that the committee can take evidence from witnesses—witnesses who have made plain what they consider must change and who expect changes to be made.

Yes, the Government could lodge amendments at stage 2, but by that point it will be too late to take the detailed evidence that we need. The matter is too important to shoehorn into a process that is already tight for time.

Unless we see substantive changes to part 2 in the coming weeks, the Scottish Liberal Democrats cannot support the bill. However, unlike the Tories, I believe that changes are possible—there are ways to provide more clarity of language and purpose, while removing the elements in part 2 that pose unnecessary risks. That would help to preserve the elements of the bill that are welcome and deserve to be passed into law.

In the recent words of one recent commentator: in an attempt to make bad people nicer, we should not risk making good people villains.

I move amendment S5M-22636.1, to leave out from second “believes” to end and insert:

“recognises the significant number of responses to the Justice Committee’s call for evidence on the Scottish Government’s proposed Hate Crime and Public Order (Scotland) Bill highlighting serious and substantial concerns in relation to its potential impact on free speech, and calls on the Scottish Government to set out the steps that it plans to take to address these concerns, specifically in relation to Part 2 of the Bill, in time for the Committee to hear evidence and give them due consideration.”