Protestors outside the Scottish Parliament building against the Hate Crime Bill
As a junior minister in the SNP, Ash Regan ALBA MSP, was supportive to a degree of the draft, Hate Crime regulations. Contrary to the SNP’s authoritarian attitude to almost everything except SNP’s right to create mystifying coercive laws, she was allowed to express her reservations about the practice of the Bill although the original vision of the bill was yet to be adulterated.
Doing the right thing to right a wrong, including leaving the SNP and joining the ALBA party, (a move that could end a career) seems to be pretty determined thinking. Why not stay with the SNP and learn to eat from the same table? Ash Regan has issued an explanation of how she feels about the Hate Crime Bill as finally laid down in the statute books. If Labour take control of Scotland, they have stated categorically the Bill will not be repealed. (A weird kind of ‘change‘.) We need every protest vote we can count upon to have this anti-democratic bill withdrawn and binned.
THE CHILLING EFFECT
by Ash Regan MSP
A chilling effect occurs when the fear of police action stops a person from freely expressing a view. Tt’s “cancel culture” before you even dare speak or write. We are witnessing comedians, social commentators, and the public eviscerating the Hate Crime and Public Order (Scotland) Act across international, domestic and social media.
During discussions on the bill with Humza Yousaf I raised two core concerns: protection of vocal disagreement without fear of recrimination, and misogyny. Colleagues assured me that the law would have clarity of intent built into the accompanying guidance, setting the bar for investigation and prosecution clearly above legally protected freedom of expression.
I was asked for my view on whether we should include sex as a characteristic, to protect women from misogyny, and I said yes. I was told that in feedback from women’s rights organisations, they sought a separate offence in misogyny legislation that could assist in dealing with the specific considerations in domestic abuse law.
After the act was passed, the follow-up meeting to discuss the guidance was a singular event that shaped my future political career. At that meeting ministers decided that they would not add clarifying real-world scenarios involving gender-critical feminists as there was nothing to gain, and it would upset the transgender lobby.
Upon my return to Holyrood, after my re-election to the Scottish parliament in May 2021, the guidance still needed to be created. From speaking widely to women’s groups who had made significant contributions to our committee, I knew that my government had broken promises to consult them regarding clear guidance and additional protections for women in the proposed Misogyny Bill.
Indeed, many had also wanted sex to be included in this bill, (as I had first assumed) but my boss at the time had convinced my view wasn’t representative. The whole situation seemed bizarre. As I tried to make sense of it, I questioned whether this was incompetence in the legislative process or whether my party leadership had deliberately misled to enable the bill to pass through parliament seamlessly.
In 2021 the bill promised a pathway to additional protections to make our open and welcoming Scotland safer for all. The reality, three years on, is that 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.
I now side with those who call for repeal. The chilling effect has begun, and the original vision of the bill is lost. Please join with me in calling for this Act to be repealed by signing our petition link below and sharing it with your friends, colleagues and on your social media.
Yours for ALBA,
Ash Regan MSP
Holyrood Leader, ALBA Party
NOTES:
Petition against the HCB: https://www.albaparty.org/
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Grouse Beater 
This is a comment I posted on WOS on 4thApril
I have commented that ALBA’s commitment to the GRA and the HCA has been lukewarm at best, re the GRA they have stated they will be seeking reform on certain aspects of the bill and the same with the HCA, obviously recently the lukewarm aspect caused division within the membership and support as they were trying too hard to accommodate everyone as exemplified by Alex Salmond making excuses that Yvonne Ridley was misinterpreted
MY OPINION is not that Ash Regan was lied to or thought one thing and it turned out another, MY QUESTION is WHY did Ash Regan think we needed another CONTROVERSIAL law at all, there are already ample laws to protect and safeguard minorities, how about laws to get us to independence or how about laws to ABOLISH the need for foodbanks, THAT should earn her vote
AFAIC ALBA have been caught with their pants down they are mirroring the middle class snp management in trying to appeal to everyone with their progressive civic don’t scare the horses non confrontational platitudes
I also followed up with THIS
Mia I usually agree with everything you write and I do understand it is possibly miniscule to fixate on a drop down menu, but IMO it is just a further example of a multitude of mistakes and stupidity that WE the people of Scotland have had to put up with for the last 10 years
Irrespective of the alleged lies and assurances Ash Regan received from DUMBZA , and TBQH if she is telling the truth and she did, WHY is this the first SCOTLAND is hearing about it , the vote for the HCB took place in 2021 which she VOTED FOR and supported, it is now April 2024 she is either a very slow thinker or she is using it to cover up her duplicitous action
AGAIN I will ask anyone or everyone WHY did Ash Regan feel that SCOTLAND needed another Hate Crime Law , are we SCOTS so despicable and filled with bile
TBQH Scotland and Scots are in such a horrible position BECAUSE we constantly believe politicians are telling the truth, and constantly we are lied to, BUT we still give them some messianic quality and defend them against everyone despite the evidence before our very eyes
Every one of the cretins in HR who voted FOR this legislation are IMO SCOTLAND AND SCOTS HATERS, they discussed this reviled law with individuals and organisations who most benefitted from curtailment of freedom of speech , and ignored and cast aside the people who would be most affected and silenced by the introduction of this act
Every one of these so called representatives including Ash Regan who voted for this act believe that Scots are a hateful group of people with no empathy or compassion that should be silenced, excluded and banished from normal society for their uncontrollable despicable actions towards others
EITHER THAT OR THEY ARE TOO STUPID TO UNDERSTAND WHAT THEY VOTED FOR
I believe version 1
Ash Regan WHY did you vote for ANY hate crime bill irrespective of whether you were lied to or NOT do you believe Scots are disgusting and reviled
Twathater, your last paragraph is inappropriate. She has given reasons in the piece reproduced. If you still feel unhappy with her reasoning you must write to her. Over-wrought assertions encourage pile ons. She switched to ALBA, a move that ought to be indication enough she wanted freedom to resist coercive SNP regulations and make our independence a priority. She was not the one in charge of policy, but expected to follow new laws blindly.
I’ll leave your comments on the board, but goading or badgering won’t be tolerated.
With respect Gareth I think my last paragraph is self explanatory, I have asked why ANY of our so called representatives especially Ash Regan felt the need to introduce additional regressive laws and policies to punish Scots for speaking their mind , TBQH I am not interested in duplicitous excuses of manipulation or faux promises, the FACT that she voted for further legislation and is now attempting to blame Useless for misleading her because she has been outed, indicates to me her lack of integrity and honesty using a diversionary tactic to blame others
It is your blog Gareth and you obviously have the editors choice of publish or not , We are in the disgusting position of having our very comments and thoughts subject to continuous policing and scrutiny and under threat of prison if it is deemed wrongthink because politicians like Ash Regan don’t know what they are voting for
I ask you a personal question Gareth, do you believe that there was a need for a further Hate Crime Act to protect minorities from hate filled Scots
This is my reasoning: if I am to avoid Ash Regan being attacked for doing the right thing that means censoring her on this site. I am not running information and analysis sites to airbrush individuals from reality. Most of the anti-Regan remarks I have seen are pathetically infantile., the rest are bots.
If you had read my introduction you would have read this: “We need every protest vote we can count upon to have this anti-democratic bill withdrawn and binned.”
As for your last question, I have stated on innumerable occasions the existance of a Hate Crime Bill is a crime in itself. Trans people were given equality under Scots law by Salmond. The rest since is white noise.