Scotland’s hate crime law may be well intentioned, but the police should not stymie public debate

‘It is one thing for Scotland’s first minister, Humza Yousaf, to accuse objectors of overreacting. He will not be the law’s interpreter.’ Photograph: Jane Barlow/PA

It is right that expressions of hatred against groups based on race and ethnicity are illegal. Whether these laws have ended hatred or merely driven it underground – a not unwelcome outcome – is a matter of opinion. But Scotland’s law against hate crime, implemented this week, extends state intervention to the “stirring of hatred” against a range of groups defined by age, disability, faith, sexual orientation, transgender identity or being intersex. Controversially, it does not extend to women – the Scottish government says a separate misogyny law is in the works.

The pitfalls in the new law have led to three years of heated debate in the Scottish parliament. A crime could be committed if “a reasonable person would consider it threatening or abusive”.