Scottish justice secretary guidance vs law

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AIBU to think the Scottish Justice Secretary should know the difference between guidance (which the police can't enforce) and law (which they can)?

He announced that people using second homes will have their details passed to the police to ensure the guidance is enforced. But the law is you can move home.

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If it is statutory guidance then it is enforceable

It isn’t

It also contradicts the law which says you can move house.

The law is you can move home, not flit between two homes. So a permanent move is fine. Deciding to spend the next 3 weeks at your second home in Cornwall or the Highlands is not fine.

The law which is enforced is the one about unnecessary journeys. The guidance gives advice on the definition of 'unnecessary' and can be used in court of law. Most law eg Health & Safety etc works like this.

The law is you can move home, not flit between two homes. So a permanent move is fine

No, it does not define ‘move home’ or stipulate any length of time. The college is policing suggest a few days.

The law does not mention unnecessary journeys. And, if it did, to leave a second home and return to another residence would be unnecessary. The law just says you must not leave your home without reasonable excuse and moving home is listed as a reasonable excuse.

Is that you Catherine?

Moving house is not the same as holidaying.

Catherine???

Holidaying is not the same as going to stay in your second home for months and possibly setting up a home office to enable you to work from there.

You might want the law to say unnecessary travel is illegal, staying in a second home is illegal, you can only make essential journeys and you cannot drive into the countryside to climb a mountain as exercise, but it doesn’t say any of those things.

Stealth boast to say they have a second home and are pissed off they can't use it

My concern is with governments presenting as law something that is no such thing and even going as far as asking the police to enforce their advice rather than the law. I find this chilling, dictatorial behaviour from a justice secretary. Governments should not be using the police to control the public in this way. If something needs to be done then they should put this before Parliament, especially when that something is the wholesale removal of human rights.

I think it is important to follow the advice and guidance but we need it to be very clear what the police can enforce and what they can’t and why.

I do not have a second home or a camper van or even a tent.