The Scottish Conservatives have pledged to scrap a controversial new hate crime law in their manifesto.
‘Attack on Free Speech’
“Humza Yousaf’s Hate Crime Act, which was supported by Labour and the Liberal Democrats, is an attack on free speech,” it said.“The Act is unworkable, has placed new burdens on police time when they are more overstretched than ever before, and has been used for vexatious allegations,” it added.
The SNP-led Scottish Government says the act, set up by former justice secretary and first minister, is designed to make hate crime law “fit for the 21st century“ and defines hate crime as the phrase used to ”describe behaviour which is both criminal and based on prejudice.”
“Stirring up hatred offences” apply to characteristics including age, disability, religion, sexual orientation, transgender identity, and variations in sex characteristics, which some argue will clash with the expression of views on all manner of subjective beliefs.
Net Zero Transition
Speaking in Edinburgh, supported by Prime Minister Rishi Sunak, the party promised to grant new oil licences, though it was supportive of net zero policies such as decarbonisation.“The Conservative Government that I lead will always stand full square behind Scotland’s North Sea oil and gas industry,” said Mr. Sunak.
Labour Leader Sir Keir Starmer has said that oil and gas will be part of the mix into the 2050s, though in 2023 at the World Economic Forum he said there would be no investment in new oil and gas fields in Britain under a Labour government.
Scottish Conservatives said they would legislate “to ensure annual licensing rounds for oil and gas production from our own North Sea.”
It said that Britain had “little reliance on Russian fuel when the invasion began, unlike some of our European neighbours.”
The manifesto said that it would continue to keep in place a windfall tax on oil companies until 2028-2029. It added that it will “back up renewables and prevent the prospect of blackouts with new gas power stations.”
The party said it wanted to “seize the opportunities” created by the net zero transition.
It added that it would “implement a new import carbon pricing mechanism by 2027” to ensure that imports of iron, steel, aluminium, ceramics and cement from countries with a lower or no carbon price will face a comparable carbon price to those goods produced in the UK.
Scottish Liberal Democrats Justice spokesperson and MSP Liam McArthur told The Epoch Times by email that they are “strong supporters of robust action against the perpetrators of hate crime.”
“Hate crime can’t be tolerated, and our legislation needs to reflect that,” he said.
Mr. McArthur said that the Scottish Liberal Democrats “also firmly believe in people’s fundamental right to freedom of expression and will always ensure it is protected.”
“That was why we strongly argued for there to be explicit protection of freedom of expression on the face of the Bill and for raising the threshold on the new ‘stirring up’ offences, which will now require it to be proven there was an intention to stir up hate,” he said.
“Unfortunately, a lack of detail and clarity around what the Act does and does not do led to understandable confusion and concern at the time of its introduction. While the situation has certainly improved in recent months, there is still more the Scottish Government and Police Scotland can do to address remaining areas of concern,” he added.
The Epoch Times contacted Humza Yousaf and Scottish Labour for comment.
