Rishi Sunak\u2019s government is threatening to block a new law that would make\u00a0Scotland\u00a0the first part of the UK to introduce a self-identification system for people who want to change gender.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
In a significant escalation that brings tensions around transgender rights into the constitutional arena, Westminster made clear it would consider a \u201cnuclear option\u201d of blocking the bill from going for royal assent, a move that would enrage supporters of the changes and nationalists.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The Scottish government pledged to \u201cvigorously contest\u201d any such intervention.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The first minister and SNP leader,\u00a0Nicola Sturgeon, called Sunak and his cabinet \u201cdemocracy deniers\u201d after the supreme court ruled in October that Holyrood could not legally hold another independence referendum without Westminster\u2019s approval. The ruling has resulted in a polling boost for independence over the last month.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The Scottish government hailed what it called \u201ca historic day for equality\u201d after a vote on Thursday afternoon in which MSPs overwhelmingly backed plans to make it easier and less intrusive for individuals to legally change their gender, and to extend the streamlined system for obtaining a gender recognition certificate (GRC) to 16- and 17-year-olds.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
But immediately after the 86-39 vote, which followed three days of intense and at times emotional debate at Holyrood, the Scottish secretary,\u00a0Alister Jack, said: \u201cWe share the concerns that many people have regarding certain aspects of this bill, and in particular the safety issues for women and children.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cWe will look closely at that, and also the ramifications for the 2010 Equality Act and other UK-wide legislation, in the coming weeks \u2013 up to and including a section 35 order stopping the bill going for royal assent if necessary.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
While gender recognition is a devolved matter, equalities legislation \u2013 which the new law will interact with \u2013 is reserved to Westminster.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Jack\u2019s intervention follows\u00a0UK government briefings\u00a0in the run-up to the vote that the new law would create \u201clegal chaos\u201d and result in \u201cgender tourism\u201d across the border with England.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Section 35 of the Scotland Act allows the Scottish secretary to make an order prohibiting Holyrood\u2019s presiding officer from submitting a bill for royal assent if they have reasonable grounds to believe it would have an adverse effect on the operation of the law as it applies to reserved matters.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
It is almost certain that such a move would be challenged by the Scottish government, either by judicial review or a direct reference to the supreme court, resulting in the second legal battle between the two governments in recent months.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
A Scottish government spokesperson said: \u201cThe bill as passed is within legislative competence, and was backed by an overwhelming majority, with support from all parties. Any attempt by the UK government to undermine the democratic will of the Scottish parliament will be vigorously contested by the Scottish government.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Westminster government law officers will further study the implications of the bill before any decision is made on the next step, with Jack\u2019s threat to block royal assent seen as not inevitable but very much possible.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cThat\u2019s the nuclear option, if you like,\u201d one UK government source said. \u201cThe ideal, of course, is that we can point out to the Scottish government all the constitutional issues the bill creates as it stands, and they can amend it before it\u2019s fully enacted. But we\u2019re looking very seriously at all possibilities.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Immediately after the vote, a spokesperson for the Equality and Human Rights Commission called on the UK government to provide clarity on whether Scottish GRCs would be recognised in the rest of the UK.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The constitutional dimension will amplify tensions around the bill, over which there was the biggest SNP backbench revolt in the party\u2019s 15 years in power. As a mark of the tensions, the debate was disrupted minutes before the final vote by protesters in the public gallery.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Nine SNP MSPs voted against their government, including Ash Regan, a former minister who\u00a0quit in protest\u00a0at a previous vote, but the bill passed comfortably with support from the Scottish Greens, Labour and the Scottish Liberal Democrats. Two Labour members \u2013 who were whipped to vote in favour \u2013 also rebelled, while three Tories, who were allowed a free vote, supported it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The bill passed in a specially extended session, six years after it was first mooted by Sturgeon, who has been a consistent and passionate supporter of the change. The bill followed two of the largest public consultations in the history of the Scottish parliament.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Proposing the final version of the bill to parliament, the social justice minister, Shona Robison, insisted that applying for a GRC under the new system would continue to be \u201ca substantial and significant legal process\u201d, with safeguards strengthened during the passage of the bill, and she said the bill \u201cdoesn\u2019t change public policy \u2026 around provision of single-sex spaces and services\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
She told MSPs: \u201cTrans rights are not in competition with women\u2019s rights and, as so often before, we can improve things for everyone when those discriminated against act as allies not opponents.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
But the Scottish Conservatives\u2019 equalities spokesperson, Rachael Hamilton, told Robison that her government had not brought the people of Scotland with them, and that \u201cin the rush to make the process a little easier for trans people, the government is making it easier for criminal men to attack women\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
During the third-stage amendment process, which ran to two marathon sessions ending after midnight on Tuesday and Wednesday this week, Holyrood witnessed an unprecedented level of cross-party collaboration as members moved to address concerns about abusive males taking advantage of the new system.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Vic Valentine, the manager of Scottish Trans, said the \u201csimple but important\u201d changes would allow trans people to live \u201cwith the dignity and recognition that everyone deserves\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
They added: \u201cTrans people across Scotland today will be feeling pleased and relieved that this bill has passed, after many years of difficult public debate that has often felt like people are talking about us and not to us.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Rishi Sunak\u2019s government is threatening to block a new law that would make\u00a0Scotland\u00a0the first part of the UK to introduce a self-identification system for people who want to change gender. In a significant escalation that brings tensions around transgender rights into the constitutional arena, Westminster made clear it would consider a \u201cnuclear option\u201d of blocking […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":8,"featured_media":27584,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_post_source_name":"","_post_source_url":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[12],"tags":[11291,5304,11941,9204,3782,10787,6369,287,2512,10507,11399,11606,913,6576,1258,10196,9081,2264,10840,8601,10419,1828,10342,10386,11743,12791,11466,12309,4435,7968,6666,11973,1198,5561,11171,7400,10878,5266,5151,9037,658,7584,3240,5150,8302,1825,4890,5471,5511,12605,10412,6348,6267,3954,5320,594],"class_list":["post-28667","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-world-news","tag-ash","tag-attack","tag-bill","tag-border","tag-cabinet","tag-certificate","tag-chaos","tag-children","tag-conservatives","tag-court","tag-debate","tag-democracy","tag-democratic","tag-democrats","tag-england","tag-first-minister","tag-gender-recognition-law","tag-government","tag-human-rights","tag-independence","tag-justice","tag-labour","tag-law","tag-legal-battle","tag-majority","tag-manager","tag-marathon","tag-men","tag-nicola-sturgeon","tag-nine","tag-nuclear","tag-one","tag-parliament","tag-protest","tag-protesters","tag-referendum","tag-revolt","tag-rishi-sunak","tag-scotland","tag-scottish","tag-scottish-parliament","tag-sex","tag-snp","tag-sturgeon","tag-sunak","tag-supreme-court","tag-tories","tag-tourism","tag-transgender","tag-uk","tag-uk-government","tag-us","tag-westminster","tag-will","tag-women","tag-who"],"blocksy_meta":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nsemgh.com\/api-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/28667","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nsemgh.com\/api-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nsemgh.com\/api-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nsemgh.com\/api-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/8"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nsemgh.com\/api-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=28667"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.nsemgh.com\/api-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/28667\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nsemgh.com\/api-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/27584"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nsemgh.com\/api-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=28667"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nsemgh.com\/api-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=28667"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nsemgh.com\/api-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=28667"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}