CHURCH leaders have warned the Scottish Government that rushing legislation on tackling sectarianism could lead to mistakes.

The Government is publishing proposals today and hopes to have parliamentary approval within a fortnight and the Bill in operation for the start of the football season on July 23.

If The Offensive Behaviour at Football and Threatening Communications (Scotland) Bill is passed, offenders will face up to five years in jail.

However, both the Church of Scotland and the Catholic Church have reservations about the speed of the process.

After meeting Community Safety Minister Roseanna Cunningham, who is piloting the Bill, the Right Reverend David Arnott, moderator of the General Assembly of the Church of Scotland, said: “The speed at which it is being rushed through means it appears to lack scrutiny and clarity. The Government is rightly asking for support from across civic Scotland, but is not giving civic Scotland much time to make sure they are happy with the content.”

Catholic Church spokesman Peter Kearney said the “truncated timescale” reinforced the need for close scrutiny. He added: “Equally, however, the timetable does suggest that urgent political attention is being given to a high-profile problem. Tackling incidents of football-related intolerance in this way will allow a wider and longer debate to take place on sectarianism and its underlying causes, without the constant distraction of football-related incidents, which statistically account for less than 15% of sectarian offences in Scotland.”

Labour justice spokesman James Kelly said there were no quick fixes, adding: “We look forward to working constructively with the Scottish Government to ensure the new laws are in place as quickly as possible, but if we rush this legislation through at breakneck speed without proper scrutiny there is a real danger we will get something wrong.”

The new law will cover threatening, abusive, disorderly or offensive behaviour and apply to fans travelling to and from matches, those watching in pubs or on outdoor screens and anyone who commits the offence online. It follows a catalogue of incidents mostly aimed at Celtic manager Neil Lennon.

A Government spokesman said: “There is broad support for ensuring new legislation is in place in time for the new season, but we also agree that sectarianism is deeply rooted and won’t be solved solely by words or legislation, which is exactly why we are working through the joint action group on football to bring forward further wide-ranging actions shortly.”