Former First Minister hopeful Ash Regan has suggested that Humza Yousaf - who beat her in the SNP leadership contest last year - misled her into voting for Scotland's controversial hate crime bill.

The legislation came into force on Monday, protecting hatred on the basis of age, disability, religion, sexual orientation and transgender identity. It was already an offence to stir up hatred on the basis of race.

It left sex out of the bill, which will be tackled through a standalone misogyny bill, though no legislation has yet been put forward.

"“During discussions on the bill with Yousaf, who is now the first minister [but was then justice secretary], I raised two core concerns: protection of vocal disagreement without fear of recrimination, and misogyny," Ms Regan told The Times.

"Colleagues assured me that the bill would have clarity of intent built into the accompanying guidance, setting the bar for investigation and prosecution clearly above legally protected freedom of expression.

"I was asked for my view on whether we should include sex as a characteristic, to protect women from misogyny, and I said yes.

"I was told that in feedback from women’s rights organisations, they sought a separate offence in misogyny legislation that could assist in dealing with the specific considerations in domestic abuse law."

Regan, now of the Alba Party, voted for the legislation after being assured protection would be offered to those expressing gender-critical views.

She continued: "After the act was passed, the follow-up meeting to discuss the guidance was a singular event that shaped my future political career."

"At that meeting, ministers decided that they would not add clarifying real-world scenarios involving gender-critical feminists as there was nothing to gain, and it would upset the transgender lobby.

"From speaking widely to women’s groups who had made significant contributions to our committee, I knew that my government had broken promises to consult with them regarding clear guidance and additional protections for women in the proposed Misogyny Bill.

"Indeed, many had also wanted sex to be included in this bill, as I had first assumed, but my then-boss had convinced me that my view wasn’t representative.

"As I tried to make sense of it, I questioned whether this was incompetence in the legislative process or whether my party leadership had deliberately misled me and others to enable the bill to pass through parliament seamlessly."

The Scottish government said: "The hate crime act will help to tackle the harm caused by hatred and prejudice and provide greater protections for victims and communities.

"The right to freedom of expression is built into the legislation and there is a high threshold for criminality."

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