Scotland’s Hate Crime and Public Order Bill is undergoing more revisions to protect plays and public performances from prosecution, and there may even be further protections inserted for freedom of religious expression.
Scottish Justice Secretary, Humza Yousaf said: ‘Mere expressions of antipathy, dislike, ridicule and insult are not on their own criminal behaviour. I’m committed to work with parliament to ensure hate crime law is effective, while protecting freedom of expression.’
Nevertheless, opposition parties pointed out that ‘the government has miles more to shift before the Bill becomes law’, and called for a ‘major overhaul of the proposals’.
