Massive Public Backing for Alba Party Call to Repeal Hate Crime Act

HUMZA YOUSAF faces a major public backlash over the controversial Hate Crime Act as a sensational poll reveals opponents outstrip supporters by more than two to one.

Excluding don’t knows, 68% of Scots say they want to see Yousaf’s Hate Crime Act repealed. 

Alba Party launched a campaign to repeal the Act last week, with the party’s Holyrood leader Ash Regan MSP stating that Yousaf misled her over the exclusion of sex as a protected characteristic legislation when he was Justice Secretary, with Regan saying that promises to provide clear guidance with real-life scenarios have been broken, in addition to the promised more comprehensive protections against misogyny, which has still not been brought before Parliament, three years after the Hate Crime and Public Order Bill became an Act. 

The survey by polling firm FindOutNow found that 45 per cent of adults said they want to see the act repealed while 21 per cent wanted to retain it. About 35 per cent responded “Don’t know”. More than 1,000 voters have been polled since Wednesday.

It found three quarters of Conservative voters favoured scrapping the law, compared with just under half of Labour voters. Significantly, almost one in three SNP voters (31 per cent) want to abolish the act.

Ms Regan says that the bill had originally promised a pathway to additional protections but “ three years on, Scotland, our police and parliament have been embarrassed, left to traverse a self-destructive pathway. The root cause of this, and other legislative failures, is the erosion of good governance to safeguard our legislative processes.” 

The Alba Party Holyrood leader is spearheading efforts to see a swift repeal of the Act and has been backed by a majority of Scots according today’s poll. 

Regan has demanded First Minister Humza Yousaf “listens” to the views of the people of Scotland as she calls for more people, including her former SNP colleagues, to now side with those who call for repeal.

Commenting Alba Party Holyrood leader Ash Regan MSP said: 

“The chilling effect of Humza Yousaf’s Hate Crime Act has already begun, and the original vision of the bill is lost.

“Today’s poll shows that an overwhelming majority of Scots want to see the Act repealed. The First Minister must listen to the views of the people of Scotland and I would call on my former colleagues in the SNP, and others across Parliament, to now side with those that want to see this Act repealed. 

“The Government has either displayed incompetence in the legislative process or they have deliberately misled to enable the bill to pass through parliament seamlessly. 

“The root cause of this, and other legislative failures, is the erosion of good governance to safeguard our legislative processes. It’s time to put Scotland’s governance back onto a competent footing and the first step in doing so would be to repeal this Act.”