Sturgeon says section 35 row will end up before a court

After Westminster confirmed it will use section 35 of the Scotland Act 1998 to block Holyrood’s proposed Gender Recognition Reform Bill on Monday, Scottish First Minister Nicola Sturgeon has said that the dispute will end up before a court and that the Scottish government would “vigorously defend the legislation.”

Sturgeon went on to say: “In doing so, we will be vigorously defending something else, and that is the institution of the Scottish Parliament and the ability of MSPs, democratically elected, to legislate in areas of our competence. In short, we’ll be defending Scottish democracy.”

The purpose of the proposed legislation is to make it easier for trans people to change their legally-recognised gender by removing a gender dysphoria diagnosis as a requirement prior to receiving a GRC (a certificate certifying a person is a different gender to which they were assigned at birth), reducing the minimum age to receive a GRC from 18 to 16 and a reduction in the required time a person must have spent as their acquired gender to receive a GRC from two years to three months.

However, Scottish Secretary Alister Jack claims that this bill will have an “adverse impact on the operation of Great Britain-wide equalities legislation.” Jack also said that he did not make the decision lightly.

Scottish Social Justice Secretary, Shona Robison, responded by saying: “We have always been clear that the Bill does not impact on the Equality Act. The UK Government had multiple opportunities to comment during the extensive consultation on the Bill and during its passage and we are confident that the legislation as passed is within legislative competence of the Scottish Parliament.”

Sturgeon claimed that Westminster was using the bill to stoke a culture war and said that the use of section 35 was a “full-frontal attack on our democratically elected Scottish Parliament.”

She also accused Alister Jack of acting like a “Governor General”, a position appointed by the crown during the time of the British Empire to rule over British dominions such as Canada and Australia, in deciding which Scottish laws to veto.

Mark Drakeford, Welsh First Minister, condemned Westminster’s decision to use section 35 and claimed it was a “very dangerous precedent” to set for devolution.