John Swinney dumps controversial misogyny legislation

2 May 2025, 17:07

Plans to introduce a misogyny bill to protect women and girls, have been dropped by the Scottish Government, while a bill to end conversion therapy practices has also been ditched.

The revelation that controversial bills were being dumped came in a written answer from the Scottish Government to a backbench SNP MSP's question asking for progress on its legislative programme, a week ahead of the publication of its next Programme for Government.

The misogyby bill, which would have introduced misogyny as a stand-alone offence, was promised after legal protections for women and girls were left out the Hate Crime Act which was passed in the Scottish Parliament four years ago.

Women MSPs had attempted to amend that Bill, to ensure sex was included as a protected characterstic in the same way as race, religion, disability and transgender identity, but the government rejected all amendments.

Now, with the misogyny legislation ditched for being too "complex" the government has admitted it will add sex to the Hate Crime Act after all.

In his letter to MSP Rona Mackay, government minister Jamie Hepburn said: "This is a complex area of policy and law, and it would be necessary that any Bill which brought misogyny into criminal law contained clear and unambiguous provisions in regard to the circumstances in which they apply.

"This would include the implications of the recent Supreme Court Judgment. Given the short time left in this parliamentary session, there is insufficient time for a Bill to be finalised and introduced in this session, therefore the Scottish Government has decided not to proceed with this Bill in this parliamentary session."

The reference to the Supreme Court's ruling on the definition of sex being purely biological would have meant any misogyny legislation would not include transgender women, as they are biologically male. The intention of the bill had originally meant to cover them, although they also had protection in the Hate Crime Act.

Today the decision to drop the misogyny bill was branded both a "shameful backward step" and a "humiliating U-turn" by opposition MSPs.

But speaking after an event in Glasgow today the First Minister John Swinney said: "I want to make sure that we take measures to tackle misogyny and that we protect women and girls in our society.

"We have to recognise that the issues that arise out of the Supreme Court judgment will take us longer to consider in developing a misogyny bill.

"So what we can do is take action at an earlier stage, amend the hate crime legislation to ensure the issue of misogyny can be addressed."

He said this will mean the Government takes "the early action that is required to address this significant curse in our society".

He promised: "We're going to take action by amending the hate crime legislation at the earliest possible opportunity, we will do that in this parliamentary term to address the legitimate concerns about misogyny which is a curse on Scottish society."

But Scottish Greens MSP Maggie Chapman said: "Violence against women and girls is a national emergency. The misogyny Bill was a vital step in ensuring that reports of harassment and assault are taken seriously."

She said the decision not to proceed with the Bill is a "shameful backward step".

Scottish Conservative deputy leader Rachael Hamilton was also critical, saying the move "looks like a humiliating U-turn from John Swinney and co".

She added: "The misogyny Bill is just the latest in a litany of paused, ditched or botched Sturgeon-era policies.

"It's little surprise it has been scrapped. Who would trust SNP ministers to legislate to criminalise misogyny when they can't even say what a woman is?

"Misogyny remains a serious problem and it's crucial that women and girls are protected from all forms of threatening and abusive behaviour in a way that safeguards their rights."

And Scottish Labour justice spokesperson Pauline McNeill also hit out, saying: "This is a shameful broken promise to Scottish women at a time when misogynistic hatred is on the rise."

Ms McNeill said: "The SNP has spent years kicking this issue into the long grass by insisting this approach wouldn't work, only to perform a screeching U-turn.

"If the SNP had listened to Scottish Labour and other women MSPs who argued for this in 2021, we would already have this protection in place."

The Labour MSP added: "The SNP has wasted the last four years and left women unprotected for no good reason, and now seems to be abandoning the other protections that Baroness Kennedy said were required to protect women - it is a shambles."

Christine Jardine, the women and equalities spokesperson for the Liberal Democrat also insisted not bringing forward a Bill was "the wrong thing to do".

The Lib Dem MP stated: "Helena Kennedy's report laid bare the extent of misogyny across our society. It made abundantly clear that women are not a minority and that a distinct set of responses was necessary to tackle deeply rooted misogyny. That is why I am incredibly disappointed by today's news."

The decision comes more than two years after the Scottish Government launched a consultation on reforms to tackling misogyny, saying then that five new laws could be created.

Then justice secretary Keith Brown said in March 2023 the move would be an "important step" in challenging the problem.

The Government consultation included proposals to make sending threatening or abusive messages to women and girls which refer to rape, sexual assault or disfigurement a specific crime, and also proposed making stirring up hatred against women or girls a new offence.

That came after Scottish ministers commissioned a report from leading barrister Helena Kennedy KC into misogyny in Scotland.

The report, published in 2022, was "stark in its assessment of the level of misogyny that exists in Scotland" Mr Brown said at the time.

The consultation had also considered if there should be an offence of misogynistic harassment - making it a criminal offence for a person to subject a woman, girl, or groups of women and girls to such behaviour.

However instead of legislation the Scottish Government said it will now bring forward secondary legislation to amend the Hate Crime Act, adding the "protected characteristic of sex" to this so females have "the same protections as other groups".

Meanwhile a bill to ban conversion therapy practices will also now not come forward this parliamentary term.

In the same letter Mr Hepburn said the goverment would bring forward the legislationin the first year of the next Holyrood term if Westminster fails to act.

The Scottish Government previously committed to banning conversion therapy - which aims to change or suppress a person's sexual orientation or identity - as part of the powersharing deal between the SNP and the Scottish Greens.

Ministers are said to be continuing to engage with the UK Government to "fully explore" legislation which could be applied across Scotland, England and Wales.