Home Secretary Shabana Mahmood has said police south of the border should stop logging non-crime hate incidents (NCHIs) and focus instead on “the day job”, arguing officers should not be policing “perfectly legal tweets”. A new legal framework is expected to replace the current system in England and Wales.

In contrast, Police Scotland said it would continue to record NCHIs, which involve making a formal record of an incident perceived to be motivated by prejudice, despite no criminal offence being identified.

The practice has proved controversial because details of an alleged perpetrator can be recorded based on the perception of a complainer, rather than an objective finding of wrongdoing, and may appear in certain background checks.

Police Scotland defines an NCHI as “any incident perceived by the victim, or any other person, to be motivated either entirely or partly by malice and ill-will” towards someone with a protected characteristic, such as race, gender or disability.

The issue has been highlighted by the case of Murdo Fraser, the Conservative MSP, who had an NCHI recorded against him after he compared identifying as “non-binary” to identifying as a cat in a social media post. After threatening legal action, Mr Fraser secured an apology from Police Scotland in December, although the force maintained it had been lawful to record the incident.

Mr Fraser, MSP for Mid Scotland and Fife, has urged Police Scotland and SNP ministers to follow the approach being taken in England and Wales.

“Scots will be dismayed that Police Scotland seem to be doubling down on this policy at a time when it looks set to change elsewhere in the UK,” he said. “The recording of non-crime hate incidents not only stifles free speech but is also a policy which may well be unlawful, as a breach of human rights.”

NCHIs were introduced following the murder of Stephen Lawrence to help identify situations that might escalate into serious crime. Critics argue they have increasingly been used to record trivial disputes, particularly online.

Figures published last year show Police Scotland has recorded more than 7,000 NCHIs since 2014.

A spokesperson for Police Scotland said: “Officers deal with a range of matters which are not criminal, and the recording of non-crime hate incidents has been in place for many years. We have a duty to prevent as well as detect crime as part of our work to improve community wellbeing, and this information can be used for monitoring of community tensions and forward planning.”