Scottish Greens: Next UK government must allow gender bill

The Scottish Greens have urged the next UK government to lift the block on Scotland's controversial gender reforms.

Holyrood passed the Scottish government’s gender recognition bill last year, with the vast majority of MSPs backing it.

The proposed legislation is designed to make it easier for people to legally change their gender.

However UK ministers halted the draft law, saying it would conflict with Equality Act protections applying across Great Britain.

It is the first time a Scottish law has been blocked for affecting UK-wide law.

Earlier this month, SNP leader and First Minister John Swinney said making gender reassignment a reserved issue for the UK government would be "an explicit, outright threat" to devolution.

Now the Greens have described the Section 35 blocking order issued by the Tory government as a "disgraceful attack" on the rights of transgender people.

Speaking at the annual Edinburgh Pride rally, the party's equalities spokesperson Maggie Chapman said: "I don't think it's appropriate that one man can overturn and veto a bill that has been legitimately and democratically passed by our parliament.

"That's why the Scottish Greens are calling on the next UK government to lift the veto... so trans people can get to live as they are, without having to go through medical and screening processes."

The Greens MSP added that the decision to block the reform was "a calculated and cruel political stunt by a bigoted Tory government that has never seen a minority group that it didn't want to punch down on".

The Conservatives have made an election pledge to rewrite the Equality Act, which makes it illegal to discriminate against anyone because of "protected characteristics".

They want the protections it enshrines on the basis of a person’s sex to apply only to their biological sex.

The Scottish Conservatives have defended the UK government's halting of the Holyrood legislation, while insisting the party was "steadfast in our support for the protection of women and girls".

Deputy leader Megan Gallacher said: "The SNP have wasted hundreds of thousands of pounds of taxpayers’ money taking the UK government and others to court over issues related to gender.

"I think a lot of women and girls will feel their rights are not being upheld and protected here in Scotland and that is something that the Scottish Conservatives will not shy away from.

"We’re not going to support dangerous policies such as self-identification which the SNP, Labour, the Liberal Democrats and the Greens tried to push through the Parliament."

SNP leader John Swinney accused the Conservatives of being "on the warpath" against Holyrood by blocking the gender recognition reforms.

Mr Swinney, who was also at the Edinburgh Pride event, said: "The decisions of the Scottish Parliament on all questions should be respected because we are a parliament with powers that we should be able to exercise."

But the first minister appeared to suggest the issue would not be a priority immediately after the election.

He said the country had a lot of challenges to face, including “the real issues that are affecting people’s lives such as austerity, Brexit, the cost of living and independence".

"That’s my priority in this election campaign, ” he said.

Scottish Labour backed the Gender Recognition Reform bill when it was passed at Holyrood.

But the party has now come under pressure after UK leader Sir Keir Starmer appeared to shift his position on transgender rights in Thursday's BBC Question Time election special.

That appearance led to JK Rowling criticising Labour for "abandoning" women over its stance on the rights of transgender people.

Writing in the Times, the Harry Potter author said she would struggle to vote for Sir Keir Starmer, saying she had a "poor opinion" of his character.

The former Labour donor said the party under Sir Keir's leadership has a “dismissive and often offensive” approach to women's concerns.

Labour said it was "the party of women’s equality, with a manifesto that puts women front and centre".

Speaking on the general election campaign trail in Glasgow, Scottish Labour leader Anas Sarwar said it was clear that the Scottish legislation was not compliant with UK law.

He said: "We've been very clear throughout this process that when we supported the legislation it was on the basis that it would not negatively impact on the equality act.

"That was the cast iron guarantee given by the SNP government which has now not proven to be the case.

"The tragedy in all of this is that, since the passing of that legislation, our trans community feel no more protected and women feel no more reassured.

"And that is why we want a process that removes the indignities of that process but still protects single sex spaces based on biological sex."

Mr Sarwar added that he was "more than happy" to have a conversation with JK Rowling in order to try and convince her to support the Labour Party.

He said that he had "a lot of respect for" the Harry Potter author and that he was "proud" of the backing she had previously given Labour.

The Scottish Liberal Democrats' Scottish Affairs spokesperson Christine Jardine said all politicians "need to start focusing on protecting some of the most vulnerable people in society".

She said: "Too much time has been spent on a toxic debate that hasn't helped anyone.

“The Liberal Democrats are proud of our work in advancing human rights, civil liberties and equality and our part in laying the foundations of the welfare state and the NHS.

“Too often under SNP and Conservative governments, people have not had the chance to get ahead in life.

“They have been held back by a lack of economic opportunity, a lack of educational opportunity or discrimination that prevents them from living their life the way they want to live it."

Sex and gender has been a political hot potato in recent years.

For the Scottish Greens, things are fairly straightforward - they’re full-throated in their support for liberalising the rules to allow someone to change their legally recognised sex.

But this can be a bit more of a minefield for other parties.

The SNP is officially in the same space as the Greens. But not everyone in the party is comfortable with this position. In fact, it's led to open revolt on occasion.

They've been talking about the issue a bit less in recent months. And John Swinney acknowledged today it won't be top of his to do list after the election.

JK Rowling may not be a Labour politician, but she had been a big supporter of the party in the recent past. Some of Labour’s comments on gender haven’t gone down well with the author, and perhaps her intervention today was ultimately to be expected.

Sottish Labour's position seems to be changing. They backed the Holyrood legislation, but now seem to be talking about a new approach that makes changing legal sex easier but still protects some spaces on the basis of biology.

For the leadership of the SNP and Labour, the fact that Scottish gender legislation sits in a sort of limbo isn’t necessarily the worst thing. They’re not pushing hard to restart a debate that can divide their respective parties.

How important is all this?

Gender reform is unlikely to be a topic which makes a major difference to who wins the election.

But for some voters it’s a key issue - with real world consequences - and it may well dictate where they put their cross on 4 July.