Salmond drops demands for anti-sectarianism bill to be rushed through parliament

First minister tells Scottish parliament complete cross-party consensus on issue has not been achieved Alex Salmond has dropped his demands for a controversial bill to tackle religious bigotry in Scotland to be rushed through parliament after intense criticism of the proposals. In a U-turn on a core policy, the first minister told the Scottish parliament that he had decided to drop plans to push the anti-sectarianism bill into law in two weeks – in time for the new football season – because there was not a complete cross-party consensus. Salmond said he would delay a final vote until later this year after opposition parties, executives at Celtic and Rangers football clubs, the Church of Scotland, and senior lawyers complained it was foolish to rush through the legislation . Further controversy erupted on Tuesday after the community safety minister, Roseanna Cunningham, said she could not rule out fans being prosecuted for singing the national anthem or Rule Britannia or making the sing of the cross if it was intended to be inflammatory. Although Frank Mulholland, the lord advocate and Scotland’s chief law officer, clarified these remarks on Wednesday, the controversy highlighted growing anxieties that the new powers, which involve five-year prison terms and unlimited fines, were not properly understood. Salmond described reporting of Cunningham’s evidence as deliberately misleading, but admitted the Scottish government had failed to win sufficient political and public support for the new measures. He said he had listened to every criticism. “We need consensus on this issue and on this issue above all. We want consensus,” he told Iain Gray, the Scottish Labour leader, at first minister’s questions. “By making this [bill] available for full consideration, we will be able to carry this parliament unanimously and together excise and drive out this blight from the game of football in this country.” The legislation – intended to be a flagship bill for Salmond’s new government – was drafted after a sudden upsurge in violent on and off-field clashes at Rangers and Celtic fixtures, and the parcel bombing campaign targeting the Celtic manager, Neil Lennon, and prominent Celtic fans earlier this year. The offensive behaviour at football and threatening communications (Scotland) bill will make it a criminal offence to act in any way likely to undermine public order at or around football matches by attacking someone’s faiths or beliefs, using much broader definitions of sectarian breaches of the peace. The measures cover pubs and clubs and introduce new offences of using the internet and the postal system to spread religious hatred or issue explicit or implied death threats, including sending bullets through the post. Cunningham said T-shirts, posters and even tattoos could fall within the scope of the legislation. The Scottish Greens, Liberal Democrats and Labour had warned they would vote down the bill because of its hasty introduction. Salmond has an overall majority at Holyrood after the SNP’s landslide victory in the May elections, but their opposition would be a serious political blow. His concessions on the anti-sectarianism bill were welcomed by Gray and Annabel Goldie, the Scottish Tory leader. Goldie said “common sense has broken out”, adding that there was an “ugly truth … that, in certain parts of the west coast of Scotland, we have entrenched sectarian attitudes”. Salmond rejected Gray’s complaints that the Scottish government had failed to properly fund anti-bigotry campaigns and had no proposals for community-based campaigns alongside the new bill. He said funding for anti-sectarian groups had grown from £224,000 to £525,000 under his administration, and that there were five “work streams” on anti-sectarianism under way to complement the legislation. The first minister has also recently endured one of the most damaging controversies of his four years in the role after his highly personal and bitter attacks on the UK supreme court and its most senior Scottish judge provoked condemnation from lawyers’ leaders, the media and opposition parties. Alex Salmond Scottish politics Scottish National Party (SNP) Scotland Religion Severin Carrell guardian.co.uk

Posted by on June 23, 2011. Filed under News, Politics, World News. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed.