Andrew Neil has issued a damning summary of the first 48 hours of the SNP’s new hate crime laws.
The veteran broadcaster highlighted how Police Scotland received almost 4,000 complaints under the new legislation.
He also pointed to reports that Scottish First Minister Humza Yousaf had more complaints for a 2020 Holyrood speech on racism than Harry Potter author JK Rowling over her gender comments.
And there have been questions over whether complaints are being recorded as a “non-crime hate incident” when they do not meet the threshold for a crime.
Mr Neil said on X: “Looks like complaints lodged under Scotland’s new ‘hate crime’ law flooded into overwhelmed police at a rate of one every 90 seconds in first 48 hours of implementation.
“Expected to top 4,000 today in total so far. Is Scotland really such a cesspit of hate? Or is the new law just a Clype’s Charter for pathetic keyboard warriors?
“First Minister Humza Yousaf pips JK Rowling in race to accumulate most complaints against an individual (talk about being hoist by your own petard!).
“SNP ministers appear on radio/TV to explain how law works — and get it wrong.
“Police say no action to be taken against Yousaf or Rowling. But who is being logged for so-called ‘non-crime hate incidents’ remains a mystery. Police accused of making it up as they go along.
“But this is not just your run-of-the-mill SNP shambles. This is an SNP-Labour-Green-LibDem shambles, the sort of cosy Scottish Left consensus that eschews proper scrutiny of new laws and results in bad laws being introduced.”
It comes after the Hate Crime and Public Order (Scotland) Act came into force on Monday.
The legislation consolidates existing laws on hate crime and extends protections offered against racial abuse to other groups of people.
However critics have voiced concerns about its impact on freedom of speech, while others have raised the prospect of vexatious or malicious complaints being made under the legislation.
Mr Yousaf has declared that he is “very proud” of the new laws, saying they will help protect against a “rising tide” of hatred.
The Scottish First Minister also insisted he is “very confident in Police Scotland’s ability in order to implement this legislation in the way it should”.
