UK government to block Scottish gender reform bill

‘Unprecedented move significantly undermines devolution’ says Stonewall

Rishi Sunak’s government is to block controversial “gender ID” reform laws passed by Holyrood, in a move branded by Nicola Sturgeon as a “full-frontal attack” on the Scottish parliament.

Ministers said the bill would have a “chilling” effect on single-sex spaces, including schools, and an adverse on other protections such as equal pay.

Different gender recognition regimes north and south of the border would also risk ”more fraudulent or bad faith applications”, the government said,

The move led to accusations trans people are being used as a political football and fears that the decision would lead to a rise in support for Scottish independence.

Ms Sturgeon, Scotland’s first minister, vowed her government would defend the legislation, warning: “If this Westminster veto succeeds, it will be first of many.”

She attacked the move as a “full-frontal attack on our democratically-elected Scottish parliament”.

It is the first time Westminster has used Section 35 powers that stop a Scottish bill from being submitted for royal assent.

Scottish secretary Alister Jack said that those going through the process to change their legal sex “deserve our respect, support and understanding”.

He insisted his decision was “about the legislation’s consequences for the operation of GB-wide equalities protections and other reserved matters”.

He added: “I have not taken this decision lightly. The bill would have a significant impact on, amongst other things, GB-wide equalities matters in Scotland, England and Wales. I have concluded, therefore, that this is the necessary and correct course of action.

“If the Scottish government chooses to bring an amended bill back for reconsideration in the Scottish parliament, I hope we can work together to find a constructive way forward that both respects devolution and the operation of UK Parliament legislation.”

Not all Conservative politicians back the government’s move.

Scottish Tory MSP Jamie Greene recently wrote to Mr Sunak to urge him not to intervene.

In a letter, he wrote that the move “would be a gift to proponents of independence who may accuse us of tearing up the devolution settlement” and said that the government should “not treat trans people as a political football”.

Three Tory MSPs voted for the bill back in December.

At the weekend Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer also waded into the row as he said 16-year-olds should not be able to legally change their gender.

The new law would allow people as young as 16 to obtain a gender recognition certificate without the need for a medical diagnosis.

It would also cut the amount of time they were required to live in the other gender before making the change from two years to three months.

Labour MSPs voted in favour of the Bill.

But he pledged to remove the “indignities” trans people face in the current system.

He said: “There are a small number of people who don’t identify with the gender that they’re born into. There is a process that they can go through at the moment.

“There are indignities in that process that I think could be improved through modernising the legislation, but what I don't want to get drawn into is the usual, toxic political football that this always seems to become.”

Scottish Labour politician Monica Lennon described the UK government’s decision as “shameful”.

The MSP for Central Scotland said the decision had been “made for cynical political reasons”.

Ms Lennon added that it was a “bad day for democracy, devolution and for human rights”.

“Anyone thinking the Tories care about women’s rights or the interests of LGBTQ people is deluding themselves.”

Nancy Kelley, chief executive of Stonewall, a leading transgender rights charity, accused the prime minister of using trans people’s lives as “a political football”.

She said: “This is the nuclear option. It is the only time that Section 35 of the Scotland Act has been used since 1998, in an unprecedented move which significantly undermines the devolution settlement and will unlock constitutional and diplomatic strife.”