JK Rowling has entered a fresh war of words with Scotland’s First Minister, slating what she called his ‘bumbling incompetence and illiberal authoritarianism’ as his government enacted a controversial new hate crime law.
The multimillionaire Harry Potter author, 58, hit out at Humza Yousaf after he branded her remarks about transgender people ‘offensive and upsetting’ despite police ruling that they did not meet the threshold to be considered a hate crime.
Rowling had taken to X, formerly Twitter, on April 1 to launch a scathing attack on trans women, singling out a number of convicted criminals as well as high-profile figures such as newsreader India Willoughby in her remarks.
Mr Yousaf appeared to agree with the police assessment that Rowling’s posts were not criminal in comments made earlier today – but said that, in his view, her comments were ‘offensive, upsetting and insulting to trans people’.
In response, Rowling fired back at the FM’s ‘bumbling incompetence and illiberal authoritarianism’ in implementing the new law, adding: ‘But we aren’t lobbying to have him locked up for it.’
JK Rowling has opened a fresh war of words with the Scottish Government over its new hate crime law
The Harry Potter author has accused first minister Humza Yousaf of ‘bumbling incompetence’ over the introduction of the legislation
She wrote on X, formerly Twitter: ‘Most of Scotland is upset and offended by Yousaf’s bumbling incompetence and illiberal authoritarianism’
The law has been criticised by some who see it as a threat to free speech (pictured: a protester with a mask of Mr Yousaf outside the Scottish Parliament on April 1)
The First Minister has staunchly defended the new hate crime law, which builds upon existing race hate legislation to add further protections for characteristics such as age, disability, transgender identity, religion and those who are intersex.
And today he told BBC Scotland News that the decision not to treat Rowling’s remarks as criminal showed the law was working as intended – by only treating ‘threatening or abusive abusive’ remarks that intend to ‘stir up’ hatred as a crime.
Those found guilty of such an offence face up to seven years in prison depending on the severity of the offence.
He said: ‘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.’
Rowling’s comments – in which she labelled a number of trans women ‘men’ – were, he said, a ‘perfect example’ of how the law is working properly.
He continued: ‘Anybody who read the act will not have been surprised at all that there’s no arrests made.
‘JK Rowling’s tweets may well be offensive, upsetting and insulting to trans people. But it doesn’t mean that they meet a threshold of criminality of being threatening or abusive and intending to stir up hatred.’
Rowling’s response tweet has been seen over 800,000 times according to X statistics, liked by 32,000 people and shared 4,800 times.
And it marks another war of words between the millionaire writer, who lives in Edinburgh, and the SNP – after she wore a t-shirt describing Mr Yousaf’s predecessor Nicola Sturgeon as a ‘destroyer of women’s rights’.
Mr Yousaf also said today he was ‘very, very concerned’ by the number of ‘vexatious’ reports being made under the new hate crime law, with more than 4,000 reported to have been made since April 1.
Some of those reports were made against Mr Yousaf for a speech he made while justice secretary, in which he called for greater racial equality in positions of power in Scotland.
The speech has been misappropriated by far-right accounts on social media and taken out of context to give the impression Mr Yousaf is claiming Scotland needs fewer white people.
He told PA today: ‘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.’
Rowling’s April 1 posts, which ended with a claim from the author that the trans women were ‘men, every last one of them’, did not meet the criminal threshold and will not be recorded as a ‘non-crime hate incident’ (NCHI) by Police Scotland.
NCHIs are recorded against people following incidents judged to have been hateful but not surpassing the criminal threshold – and are used for statistical purposes to measure tensions in and towards communities across Scotland.
But police in Scotland have been accused of ‘making it up as they go’ and favouring the famous after they refused to tag Rowling’s remarks or past comments by Mr Yousaf as an NCHI – but did tag remarks made by a Tory MSP.
Mid-Scotland and Fife member Murdo Fraser says he has an NCHI to his name after he said someone identifying as non-binary – neither exclusively male nor female’ was ‘as valid as choosing to identify as a cat’.
JK Rowling has previously warred with the SNP over its stance on transgender people – branding Humza Yousaf’s predecessor Nicola Sturgeon a ‘destroyer of women’s rights’
Conservative MSP Murdo Fraser has accused Police Scotland of ‘making it up as they go’
As anger over Scotland’s controversial hate crime law continues to grow, Conservative MSP Mr Fraser has demanded ‘urgent clarity’ from Police Scotland chief constable Jo Farrell
Mr Fraser’s comments last year were logged as an NCHI but Police Scotland said Humza Yousaf and JK Rowling’s would not be
Mr Fraser, who is considering legal action against Police Scotland, claimed the force’s decision was politically biased
He has written to Police Scotland chief constable Jo Farrell to demand an explanation.
An NCHI is when a complaint does not meet the threshold for a crime but is perceived to be ‘motivated (wholly or partly) by malice and ill-will towards a social group’, according to Police Scotland guidance.
At the time, he said he was ‘found guilty’ of ‘hate’ by Police Scotland. But he has now questioned the consistency of the laws after comments made by Harry Potter author JK Rowling and Scotland First Minister Mr Yousaf were not logged.
In response to seeing her comments would not be recorded as an NCHI, JK Rowling tweeted: ‘Again, I trust everyone will be treated the same way if they express themselves similarly. Nobody should have a ‘Hate Incident’ logged against them for accurately describing, or asserting the importance and reality, of biological sex. We must all be equal under the law.’
The Scottish Government has previously said deliberately misgendering someone – referring to someone by pronouns other than those that they prefer – would not be criminalised under the new legislation.
Rowling – who had dared police to arrest her – had posted a series of tweets in which she spoke out against 10 trans women, including double rapist Isla Bryson, who was jailed for eight years last year for raping two women.
The attacks were carried out when Bryson, born Adam Graham, was a man.
Mr Fraser, who is considering legal action against Police Scotland, has written a letter to the chief constable about his concerns.
He said: ‘I am writing to you concerning Police Scotland yesterday announcing, that contrary to its stated policy, NCHIs would not be recorded in relation to comments made by First Minister Humza Yousaf and the author JK Rowling. I have a number of serious questions which arise from this and for which I would be grateful to have your urgent response.’
He also claimed the force’s decision was politically biased.
Reacting to Mr Yousaf and Ms Rowling’s remarks not being recorded as NCHIs, he said: ‘This decision means Police Scotland have not only breached their own policy on recording non-crime hate incidents, but now appear to be making it up as they go along.
‘They have taken a different approach to comments made by the SNP first minister to those made by an opposition politician. It is hard not to conclude that Police Scotland has been captured by the SNP policy agenda and that this is a decision that reeks of political bias.
‘I hope the chief constable will contact me urgently with an immediate apology for recording a hate incident against me and confirming all records in relation to it have been destroyed. They should also ditch their existing unlawful policy — as has been done in England and Wales — which I believe is a clear breach of people’s human rights.’
It comes as the Scottish Tories estimate that 1.4million complaints could be made under the controversial new law in the first year.
A protest against the new hate crime laws took place outside the Scottish Parliament on April 1, the day the legislation came into effect
Humza Yousaf (pictured on Monday) has received more complaints under Scotland’s new hate crime bill than JK Rowling , it has been revealed today
Calum Steele, the former general secretary of the Scottish Police Federation, said that around 3,800 cases were logged within the first 24 hours of the act coming into force Monday.
The Scottish Tories have claimed that if the rate continues for the next 12 months, a total of 1.387 million crimes will be reported during 2024/2025 financial year.
Mr Yousaf is believed to be the subject of the most complaints under the Hate Crime and Public Order (Scotland) Act, which creates a new crime of ‘stirring up hatred’ towards certain protected characteristics.
These are a person’s age, disability, religion, sexual orientation, transgender identity or being intersex.
An insider told the Sun: ‘A lot of those complaints were about Humza Yousaf, on the same complaint about his parliamentary rant. JK Rowling has had some, but not as many as Humza Yousaf.’
A 2020 video of Mr Yousaf speaking in the Scottish Parliament in the wave of the Black Lives Matter protests has been circulated for years, out of context, by far-right Twitter accounts seeking to portray the First Minister as racist.
Some of the posts made by JK Rowling on X/Twitter on transgender women, which police say did not meet the criminal threshold when assessed under Scotland’s new hate crime laws
Bryson, 31, formerly known as Adam Graham, from Clydebank, West Dunbartonshire, was moved to a men’s prison after an outcry
In the clip, the SNP leader tells of how people are often surprised he is the only ‘non-white person in the room’ at most of the meetings he attends.
He then adds: ‘The Lord President is white, the Lord Justice Clerk is white, every High Court judge is white, the Lord Advocate is white, the Solicitor General is white, the chief constable is white, every deputy chief constable is white, every assistant chief constable is white, the head of the Law Society is white, the head of the Faculty of Advocates is white and every prison governor is white.’
Mr Yousaf was seeking to highlight how few people of colour are in positions of power in Scotland’s parliament and government – but far-right activists stripped the clip of context and sought to suggest he was calling for a reduction in the number of white people in Scotland.
News agency Reuters issued a fact-checking note on the video after Elon Musk, owner of troubled social network X, formerly Twitter, branded Mr Yousaf a ‘blatant racist’ in response to a post of the video from a well-known right-wing account.
Police Scotland said complaints were received at the time of the debate but were not deemed to have met the threshold of a crime. They also confirmed comments from before midnight on April 1, 2024, would be looked at under older legislation.
The First Minister’s remarks will also not be logged as an NCHI.
A Police Scotland spokesperson also said: ‘We have received a number of complaints in relation to a speech in the Scottish Parliament on June 10, 2020.
The hate crime bill, introduced on Monday, criminalises ‘threatening or abusive behaviour’ intended to stir up hatred against someone’s identity
Women’s rights campaigners have hit out at Scotland’s new hate crime law (pictured: protests outside the Scottish Parliament on April 1)
Opponents of the law say it will threaten free speech – but the SNP has insisted it will protect freedom of expression
‘Earlier complaints regarding this matter were assessed at the time and it was established no crime was committed and no further action was required.’
NCHIs have been around for many years and are not part of the new Hate Crime and Public Order Act – but critics fear the new legislation could lead to an increase in hate incidents being logged against innocent people.
Joanna Cherry, the SNP MP, said: ‘It seems Police Scotland are revising their policy on recording non-crime hate incidents on the hoof in order to avoid the embarrassment of recording incidents against an internationally, renowned author & philanthropist & the First Minister of Scotland.
‘This really isn’t good enough & calls into question the application of the policy to date. The policy should be applied equally to everyone.
‘Police Scotland should wipe their existing database of non-crime hate incidents and carry out a proper review of their policy in line with the principle of equality before the law.’
Joanna Cherry, the SNP MP, said: ‘It seems Police Scotland are revising their policy on recording non-crime hate incidents on the hoof…’
It comes as Siobhian Brown, the SNP community safety minister, said ‘misinformation and hysteria’ have led to wrongful assumptions about the legislation.
She also said that one of the 4,000 complaints made to Police Scotland since it came into effect was submitted by someone pretending to be her.
‘I think also, in the last couple of weeks, there has been a lot of misinformation and hysteria regarding this bill being introduced,’ she told BBC Radio Scotland.
‘I was surprised myself on Monday to receive a call from Police Scotland about my complaint – this was a fake complaint someone had done anonymously in my name, and gave my office number.
‘I think this shows the publicity and misinformation that’s out there about this Act, that people are making fake and vexatious complaints.’
Since the law came into effect, a house close to Mr Yousaf’s in the Dundee suburb of Broughty Ferry has been daubed with racist graffiti containing derogatory references to Muslims and Pakistani people.
It has been universally condemned by the leaders of Scotland’s political parties, and police are investigating.
Elsewhere, the decision not to investigate Rowling’s comments prompted an outcry from transgender newsreader India Willoughby – one of the 10 trans women targeted in the writer’s thread of tweets – who accused officers of getting ‘stardust in their eyes’.
But on Tuesday, Rowling responded to the decision, writing online: ‘If they go after any woman for simply calling a man a man, I’ll repeat that woman’s words and they can charge us both at once.’
She was supported by X owner Elon Musk – who has a transgender daughter, Vivian Jenna Wilson, who has distanced herself from her father – as he responded to the tweet with a fire emoji.
Musk has voiced his opposition to the new hate crime law, which carries penalties of up to seven years in prison in the most severe cases.
Rowling – who also writes under the male pen name of Robert Galbraith – was also given support by the Prime Minister, Rishi Sunak , who said on Tuesday: ‘We should not be criminalising people for saying common-sense things about biological sex .’
