JK Rowling blasts Humza Yousaf’s ‘bumbling incompetence’ as new regulation causes chaos | Politics | News | EUROtoday

JK Rowling has blasted Humza Yousaf’s “bumbling incompetence” following the introduction of Scotland’s new hate crime regulation.

The Hate Crime and Public Order (Scotland) Act got here into impact on Monday, prompting 1000’s of complaints in its first few days, together with from the Harry Potter creator.

She hit out at Scotland’s First Minister after he branded her remarks about transgender folks “offensive and upsetting” regardless of police ruling that they didn’t meet the edge to be thought of a hate crime.

The creator misgendered various trans folks, and successfully challenged police to arrest on Twitter, previously X, earlier this week.

Mr Yousaf appeared to agree with the police evaluation that Rowling’s posts weren’t legal however mentioned that, in his view, her feedback had been ‘offensive, upsetting and insulting to trans folks’.

In response, Rowling mentioned: “Most of Scotland is upset and offended by Yousaf’s bumbling incompetence and illiberal authoritarianism, but we aren’t lobbying to have him locked up for it.”

The First Minister has staunchly defended the brand new hate crime regulation, which builds on current race hate laws so as to add additional protections for traits resembling age, incapacity, transgender identification, faith and those that are intersex.

He mentioned the choice to not deal with Rowling’s remarks as legal confirmed the regulation was working as meant – by solely treating “threatening or abusive” remarks that intend to “stir up” hatred as a criminal offense.

People discovered responsible of such an offence resist seven years in jail relying on the severity of the offence.

Mr Yousaf mentioned: “Those new offences that have been created by the act have a very high threshold for criminality.

“The behaviour has to be threatening or abusive and intends to stir up hatred. So it doesn’t deal with people just being offended or upset or insulted.”

He mentioned he’s “very, very concerned” by the variety of “vexatious” complaints lodged beneath the nation’s new hate crime regulation in its early days – however he isn’t shocked.

Mr Yousaf mentioned: “It’s not a huge surprise that when legislation is first introduced there can sometimes be a flurry of vexatious complaints.

“We’ve obviously seen that and I would say to people don’t make vexatious complaints – you should desist – because what you’re doing is wasting precious police resources and time.

“But I am very, very concerned about the fact that we have seen those complaints, but at the same time I know that police are very adept at dealing with vexatious complaints, they do it every day and they know how to treat them.”