UK government’s veto of Scotland’s gender reform bill ruled lawful by Scottish court
Scotland’s highest civil court has ruled that the UK government acted lawfully in blocking Holyrood’s controversial gender reform bill.
Legislation making it easier for people to change their legally-recognised sex was passed by MSPs last December.
It then became a constitutional dispute in January when the UK government took the unprecedented step of using a Section 35 order to stop the bill from receiving royal assent and becoming law.
Scottish Secretary Alister Jack had argued the bill clashed with UK-wide equality laws and differing systems of gender recognition north and south of the border would create “significant complications”.
The Scottish government launched a legal challenge and a three-day hearing took place at the Court of Session in Edinburgh in September.
On Friday, Lady Haldane delivered her judgment, saying the UK government’s decision to block the gender reform bill from gaining royal assent was lawful.
The Scottish government has the right to appeal the case further through the Scottish courts, and ultimately to the Supreme Court in London.
Mr Jack welcomed the decision and said Scottish ministers “need to stop wasting taxpayers’ money” and instead focus on other issues that matter to people in Scotland, “such as growing the economy and cutting [NHS] waiting lists”.
First Minister Humza Yousaf said it was a “dark day for devolution”.
Posting on X, formerly Twitter, he said: “Today’s judgment confirms beyond doubt that devolution is fundamentally flawed.
“The court has confirmed that legislation passed by a majority in Holyrood can be struck down by Westminster. The only way to guarantee we get true self-government is through independence.
“This is a dark day for devolution. Sovereignty should lie with the people of Scotland, not a Westminster government we didn’t vote for with the ability to overrule our laws.
“We, of course, respect the court’s judgment and will take time to consider its findings.”
Meghan Gallacher, deputy leader of the Scottish Conservatives, said: “This is a humiliating defeat for Humza Yousaf and the SNP, who have once again squandered taxpayers’ cash on a self-serving but doomed court case.
“Their reckless Gender Recognition Reform Bill is deeply unpopular with the Scottish public because its self-ID principle compromises the safety of women and girls – as the case of a double-rapist being sent to a female prison demonstrated.”
A demonstration for trans rights outside the UK government office in Edinburgh earlier this year
Read more:
Why is the bill controversial?
The Scottish Greens said it was a “devastating day for equality and democracy”.
Maggie Chapman, the party’s equality spokesperson, said: “It is a democratic outrage, crushing basic rights and equality for some of Scotland’s most marginalised people.”
She added: “It is horrible, it is heartbreaking and it is unjust.
“It makes a mockery of any vote or decision that we as parliamentarians take at Holyrood from now on, if the result is knowing that Westminster will veto anything they don’t like.
“Self-ID is normal and is used in countries around the world. What our parliament voted for was a small change that would have made a big difference to a vulnerable community. I hope the Scottish government will consider all options for appeal.”
A demonstration for trans rights outside the UK government office in Edinburgh in January
The reform bill
The Gender Recognition Reform (Scotland) Bill was passed by MSPs just before Christmas last year.
It aims to simplify the process for trans people to change gender in the eyes of the law.
No diagnosis or medical reports would be required, and the period in which adult applicants need to have lived in their acquired gender would be cut to three months.
Teenagers aged 16 and 17 applying for a gender recognition certificate would have to live in their acquired gender for at least six months.
Critics have argued the proposals undermine women’s rights and single-sex spaces.
Demonstrators at a Let Women Speak rally in Glasgow’s George Square in February
Colin Macfarlane, director of nations at LGBTQ+ charity Stonewall, said the organisation was “disappointed” with the ruling.
He added: “This unfortunately means more uncertainty for trans people in Scotland, who will now be waiting once again, to see whether they will be able to have their gender legally recognised through a process that is in line with leading nations like Ireland, Canada and New Zealand.
“Whatever happens next in discussions with the UK and Scottish governments on this matter, Stonewall will continue to press all administrations to make progress on LGBTQ+ rights in line with leading international practice.”
The crash involving a cargo ship and oil tanker off the East Yorkshire coast is bad news for the sea, fish and air in the area. What we don’t know yet is quite how bad it will be.
That depends on a few things – but the speed of the collision, clouds of filthy black smoke from the fires and the leaked fuel are certainly worrying.
Firstly, it matters what was on board those two massive vessels.
Follow live: Jet fuel spilling into sea after tanker collision
Analytics firm Vortexa estimates the 183m-long tanker was carrying about 130,000 barrels of jet fuel (kerosene), which is now leaking into the sea.
Jet fuel is not as sticky or viscous as heavier types of oil, thankfully, so it’s less likely to clog the feathers and fur of birds and seals. It can also be broken down by natural bacteria.
But it can still poison fish and kill animals and plants on the shoreline if it makes its way into the soil there.
The Marine Conservation Society has pointed out the site in the Humber estuary is close to some protected areas and is important for seabirds and harbour porpoises.
And both ships will have been powered by a dirtier, heavier kind of oil – likely marine gas oil or heavy fuel oil, though we don’t know the details yet.
Heavy fuel oil is nasty stuff.
Pic: Bartek Smialek/PA
Cheap, thick and tar-like, it can smother animals and is very dangerous if they consume it, and is extremely difficult to clean up. Let’s hope this isn’t creeping around the North Sea already.
We don’t know how much of either the jet fuel or the oil powering the ships has leaked, or how much will be burned off in the violent fires – which themselves are ploughing black smoke and filthy air pollution into the surrounding atmosphere.
And we don’t know for sure what was on the Solong cargo ship and if, or what, will go into the sea.
Cargo ship ‘had sodium cyanide on board’
It was carrying 15 containers of sodium cyanide among other cargo, according to a report from maritime data provider Lloyd’s List Intelligence.
The container vessel was also transporting an unknown quantity of alcohol, said the casualty report – an assessment of incidents at sea – citing a message from the local coastguard.
Plastic takes hundreds of years to break down, and potentially can choke or trap animals.
Many of us have seen that uncomfortable viral video of a turtle having a straw yanked out of its nose. Previous accidents on cargo ships have seen plastic Lego pieces wash up in Cornwall 25 years later.
Read more:
How UK North Sea platforms dump gas
Secondly, the impact depends on the sea and weather conditions around it.
Things like the wind and currents affect how an oil spill spreads in the sea. Scientists can draw up computer models to simulate how the oil could behave.
Thirdly, it matters how quickly this is all tackled and then cleaned up, if necessary, and if it can be.
Usually the slower the response, the worse the impact.
The coastguard has said the incident “remains ongoing” and it has started assessing the “likely counter pollution response” that will be required.
Such a response might need the help of numerous public bodies: the government environment department, the transport department, the Environment Agency and the Maritime and Coastguard Agency.
So for now the best we can hope for – aside from the welfare of the people involved – is that not all the oil is spilled or burnt, that conditions are calm and that rescuers and those cleaning up can work swiftly.
-
Sports2 years ago‘Storybook stuff’: Inside the night Bryce Harper sent the Phillies to the World Series
-
Sports11 months agoStory injured on diving stop, exits Red Sox game
-
Sports1 year agoGame 1 of WS least-watched in recorded history
-
Sports2 years agoMLB Rank 2023: Ranking baseball’s top 100 players
-
Sports3 years ago
Team Europe easily wins 4th straight Laver Cup
-
Environment2 years agoJapan and South Korea have a lot at stake in a free and open South China Sea
-
Environment2 years agoGame-changing Lectric XPedition launched as affordable electric cargo bike
-
Business2 years agoBank of England’s extraordinary response to government policy is almost unthinkable | Ed Conway