Outrage as huge sum spent promoting Humza Yousaf's 'shambolic' hate crime law revealed

Hate crime law campaign

The SNP has sparked outrage after it emerged almost £400,000 was spent promoting a controversial new hate crime law.

The taxpayer-funded campaign, which included TV adverts, billboards and social media adverts, urged Scots to report hate crimes ahead of the new legislation coming into force.

Figures obtained by the Daily Mail using a Freedom of Information request show the cost of the campaign was £389,689.50.

Scottish Conservative deputy justice spokesperson Sharon Dowey MSP said: “The huge sum of public money lavished by the SNP on promoting Humza Yousaf’s shambolic hate crime law will rightly stick in the craw of Scotland’s police officers.

“Police Scotland could desperately use that £400k as they plough through the mountain of extra work generated by SNP ministers encouraging the public to report incidents – and which we’re told is leading to a huge overtime bill.”

She added: “It also makes a mockery of SNP ministers’ apparent shock at the number of vexatious complaints being made to police.

“They ran a nationwide publicity drive, at taxpayers’ expense, urging people to report hate incidents to the police, and now have the cheek to wring their hands at the volume of them.

“The SNP’s flawed law, which was inexplicably supported by Labour and the Liberal Democrats, is unravelling just as legal experts and the Scottish Conservatives predicted. It must be ditched now.”

Scottish Tory leader Douglas Ross added: “The SNP blew £400,000 of taxpayers’ money promoting Humza Yousaf’s Hate Crime Act – a dangerous law supported by Labour and the Lib Dems.

“As each day goes by, more and more issues with this bad SNP law are being uncovered. It must be repealed.”

One video as part of the campaign shows an individual looking at messages on a mobile phone alongside the words: “Sticks and stones may break my bones, but words make me feel hated just for being me.”

More than 7,000 complaints were made to Police Scotland in the first week after the Hate Crime and Public Order (Scotland) Act came into force on April 1, but just 240 were recorded as hate crimes.

Critics including Harry Potter author JK Rowling have raised fears the legislation could hamper free speech and by those with an axe to grind.

A Scottish Government spokesperson said: “The ‘Hate Hurts’ campaign shows the traumatic impact of hate crime on victims and encourages those who have witnessed or experienced a hate crime to come forward.

“Police Scotland statistics showing there were 240 hate crimes recorded in just one week demonstrate how vital it is that marginalised and vulnerable communities most at risk of hatred and prejudice are protected in law.

“Police Scotland has been clear that demand continues to be managed within its contact centres and the impact on frontline policing has been minimal.”