Hate crime law has prompted nuisance complaints, admits Scottish justice minister

A Scottish justice minister has been forced to admit “vexatious” claims are being made to police under new hate crime laws after she disclosed a false complaint had been lodged under her name.

Siobhian Brown, the Community Safety Minister, said she was “surprised” to receive a call from Police Scotland on Monday about a complaint made under the legislation.

The force has been inundated with more than 3,000 complaints since the Hate Crime and Public Order (Scotland) Act came into force on Monday.

During a radio interview on Wednesday, Ms Brown revealed that someone had lodged a complaint in her name and given her office number.

She added that this demonstrated that “people are making fake and vexatious complaints” under the controversial legislation.

Just two days earlier, Humza Yousaf, the First Minister, had insisted there was “absolutely no evidence” to support warnings that there would be a large increase in the number of vexatious complaints.

The Scottish Tories said police could receive 1.4 million complaints in the first year of Mr Yousaf’s “dangerous” legislation if the current rate continues – more than four times the hate crimes total last year.

Russell Findlay, the shadow justice secretary, said the SNP’s legislation – passed at Holyrood with Labour and Liberal Democrat support – was the “biggest ever burden placed on Scotland’s police force”.

Critics had predicted the legislation would be “weaponised” by trans activists and a deluge of cases would tie police officers up for hours, preventing them investigating more serious crimes.

In addition, it is understood a large number of complaints have been lodged about a speech Mr Yousaf made as justice secretary in which he highlighted the dominance of white people in public roles.

Yousaf target of more complaints than JK Rowling

Although Police Scotland dismissed these complaints, the force has pledged to investigate every case. It is understood more complaints have been made about Mr Yousaf than about JK Rowling.

The force has set up a special “gold group” of senior officers to deal with the influx, according to STV News.

Roddy Dunlop KC, dean of the Faculty of Advocates, tweeted: “3,000+ complaints in 24 hours? How utterly unpredictable.

“If only someone had had the foresight to see this coming and express the view that the cops would be overwhelmed. Oh. That’s right. Loads of us did.

“Will we see this tsunami being stemmed by the promised application of the law on wasting police time?

“My prediction is that we will not. As it would be nigh on impossible to prove intent, even if the complainer were identifiable (which often won’t be the case).”

Mr Yousaf oversaw the passage of the hate crime legislation in 2021 as justice secretary in Nicola Sturgeon’s government. It did not come into force until this week as Police Scotland said it needed time for training.

A person commits an offence under the Act if they communicate material, or behave in a manner “that a reasonable person would consider to be threatening or abusive” with the intention of stirring up hatred based on protected characteristics.

The legislation extends long-standing offences around racist abuse to other grounds on the basis of age, disability, religion, sexual orientation or transgender identity but not sex.

3,800 cases lodged, says former police leader

Police Scotland has said the number of complaints is being collated but Calum Steele, the former general secretary of the Scottish Police Federation (SPF), said on Tuesday he understood that around 3,800 cases had been lodged over the previous 24 hours.

BBC Scotland said more than 3,000 complaints had been made, a figure Ms Brown did not challenge when it was put to her during an interview on the broadcaster’s Good Morning Scotland radio programme.

She said: “I was updated on the figures when you announced it today. I was actually surprised myself on Monday to receive a call from Police Scotland about my complaint.

“So obviously, this was a fake complaint that someone had done anonymously in my name and gave my office number. So I think this just shows the publicity and misinformation that’s out there about this Act, that people are making fake and vexatious complaints. I’m not saying all of them have been.”

When reminded that the Scottish Government was warned this would happen, she agreed but again blamed “misinformation and hysteria” for the torrent of complaints.

The complaints about Mr Yousaf related to a speech he gave in  2020 challenging racism. The footage has since been used to claim he is bigoted, which he has vigorously denied.

McCoist fears over Old Firm match

Ms Brown was also challenged over warnings by Ally McCoist, the former footballer and television pundit, that he and his fellow Rangers fans run the risk of falling foul of the new hate crime laws during the Old Firm derby with Celtic this Sunday.

She said there was a “very high threshold” and a fan would “have to be threatening and abusive with the intent of stirring up hatred to an individual at one of these games”.

” I would truly hope that a lot of people attending a football match will not go there with the intention of doing that to individuals,” she said.

The Scottish Tory calculations about the number of hate crimes that could be lodged in the coming year were based on Mr Steele’s 3,800 estimate for the first day. The party has launched a petition for the repeal of the legislation.

Mr Findlay said: “Humza Yousaf’s dangerous Hate Crime Act is already being weaponised on an industrial scale by thin-skinned troublemakers, which is placing the biggest ever burden on Scotland’s police officers.

“Within 24 hours of it coming into force, Police Scotland has been inundated with complaints, many of them spurious nonsense from activists with an axe to grind.”

Responding to the complaints about Mr Yousaf, a spokesman said: “Earlier complaints regarding this matter were assessed at the time and it was established no crime was committed and no further action was required.”