LABOUR MSP James Kelly has formally launched a bid to scrap controversial legislation aimed at tackling sectarianism which he claims has “damaged trust” between football fans and Police Scotland.
Kelly today lodged his proposal with the parliamentary authorities for a Holyrood bill which would repeal the Offensive Behaviour at Football and Threatening Communications (Scotland) Act.
However, the Scottish Government has ruled this out and challenged critics such as Kelly to put forward specific proposals on how the legislation could be improved.
In a robust defence of the Act, which was intended as an attempt to crack down on sectarianism and other football-related offences, a government spokesperson said it “sends out a clear message that Scotland will not tolerate any form of prejudice, discrimination or hate crime.”
But Kelly claims the SNP “bulldozed” the law through without cross-party support when it had an overall majority in the last parliament.
He said the party’s now diminished strength in Holyrood presented an opportunity to get rid of legislation that the Scottish Tories, Lib Dems, and Greens all promised to scrap in their manifestos.
Critics of the Act claim it unfairly targets law-abiding fans and fails to tackle bigotry.
Kelly has also launched a public consultation seeking the views of experts and supporters’ groups, as well as calling for the opinion of all of Scotland’s football clubs, which the Rutherglen MSP will write to, in a bid to put forward an alternative plan to tackle sectarianism.
He said: “The SNP’s football act has damaged trust between football fans and the police without doing anything to combat sectarianism and intolerance in our country.
“Sectarianism in Scotland has existed for hundreds of years but the government’s approach was to try and fix it in 90 minutes. As always with the SNP, they thought a simple headline would fix a complex problem.
“The SNP arrogantly bulldozed this piece of legislation through. It was the first law passed by Holyrood without any cross-party support. Opposition parties, supporters groups, legal experts and academics opposed it.
“Now the SNP have lost their majority in the Scottish Parliament, we can scrap the Football Act and get real about tackling sectarianism off the pitch, in our classrooms and communities.
“My consultation will seek the views of people from all across Scotland. The way to tackle sectarianism is by consensus.”
Justice secretary Michael Matheson has already said that the ScottishGovernment would be prepared to legislate further to tackle football-related disorder, following post-match scenes of violence and a pitch invasion that marred this year’s Scottish Cup Final between Rangers and Hibernian.
Official figures earlier this year showed that football-related hate crimes had increased by almost 50 per cent during the last year.
There were 287 charges reported to prosecutors under the legislation in 2015-16 – an increase of 49 per cent on the previous year – related to 117 football matches.
A Scottish Government spokesman said the existing law had been an effective way for the authorities to deal with sectarianism, insisting that the
Act “sent out a clear message that Scotland will not tolerate any form of prejudice, discrimination or hate crime, and it gives police an additional tool to tackle this behaviour”.
The spokesperson went on: “The Scottish Government has made it clear that we are willing to discuss how any legitimate concerns about the Act can be addressed.
“We have invited stakeholders to submit evidence about how the Act could be improved but, to date, no one has done so. Repealing the Act in the absence of a viable alternative is not an option.”
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