Repealing the Hate Crime Act

As an amendment to motion S6M-12550 in the name of Russell Findlay (Repealing the Hate Crime Act), leave out from “believes” to end and insert “recognises that the Hate Crime and Public Order (Scotland) Act 2021 was intended to improve protections for individuals and communities from hate, but has been let down by the chaotic implementation of it by the Scottish National Party administration; acknowledges the Scottish Government’s failure to properly communicate the changes in the legislation, or to give adequate training to Police Scotland; requests that the Criminal Justice Committee carry out an urgent review into the operation of the Act, specifically the new provisions, and calls on the Scottish Government to urgently address the flaws in its implementation of the Act, to use its powers under section 12 of the Act to add the characteristic of sex as an aggravator and protected characteristic under the Act, and to review the recording of hate incident reporting to make sure that it is compliant with human rights law and prevents the recording of vexatious complaints.”