JK Rowling has been one of the most vocal critics of the new legislation (Image: Getty)

       Humza Yousaf has reportedly been hit with more complaints than JK Rowling under the SNP's controversial new hate crime laws. More than 3,000 complaints have been made to police since the legislation came into force on Monday.

       A police source said the Scottish First Minister received more hate crime reports about a speech he made to Holyrood in 2020 than the Harry Potter author got over her trans comments.

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       The source 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."

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       Complaints about the Scottish First Minister relate to a speech he made in Holyrood in June 2020 following the death of George Floyd in the US. The killing sparked the Black Lives Matter protests.

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       In a clip of the speech, which prompted Elon Musk to label Mr Yousaf a "blatant racist", he said that "in 99 percent of the meetings I go to, I am the only non-white person in the room”.

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       Mr Yousaf, who was Scottish justice secretary at the time, added: “Why are we so surprised when the most senior positions in Scotland are filled almost exclusively by people who are white?

       “Take my portfolio, for example. 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.”

       Police Scotland confirmed it had received “a number of complaints” about the speech under the new hate crime laws.

       It added: “Earlier complaints regarding this matter were assessed at the time and it was established no crime was committed and no further action was required.”

       The force also confirmed that comments made by Rowling on social media on Monday were "not assessed to be criminal" and said "no further action will be taken" against the writer.

       The Harry Potter author branded a series of trans women as men and challenged police to arrest her if they believed she had committed a crime.

       It comes amid controversy over the Hate Crime and Public Order (Scotland) Act, which creates a new crime of "stirring up hatred" relating to age, disability, religion, sexual orientation and transgender identity.

       Critics including Rowling have voiced concerns about its impact on freedom of speech, while others have raised the prospect of vexatious or malicious complaints being made under the legislation.

       David Campbell Bannerman, chairman of the Conservative Democratic Organisation, told the Express this week that the First Minister "must be relieved" to have delivered the speech before his new law came into effect.

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       He added: "Being anti-white is just as racist as other forms of racism and is just as unacceptable.

       "These SNP nationalist socialists are a danger to all our freedoms and are spreading anti-white and anti-English hatred through their extremism and idiocy."

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