Mr. Butler said, “This attempted infringement of human freedoms will be challenged in the Scottish courts as incompatible with the European Convention of Human Rights now enshrined in Scottish law”. He called on all in the UK who care about civil liberty and tolerance to raise their voices in protest to help safeguard the freedoms of the Scottish people.

Alliance Chief Executive Richard Burge, echoing Mr. Butler’s criticisms this evening, said the bill proved the folly of trying to create legislation based on personal moral value judgments. “This bill’s sponsors long ago abandoned any pretence that it was about animal welfare”, he said. “The bill is now revealed as a blatant attempt to seek to interfere with human thought and behaviour. Competent politicians should know better than to try to frame legislation that merely seeks to impose their own personal opinion on the community - and especially on cultural minorities. That is why this bill was destined from the first to be an unworkable mess - and the lesson should not be lost on politicians beyond Scotland”.