MP Cherry returns to the bar to defend woman accused of homophobia and transphobia after social media posts
A high-profile SNP MP is set to return to the bar “on a limited basis” to defend Marion Millar, a woman charged with malicious communication after allegedly posting “homophobic and transphobic” messages on social media.
Joanna Cherry QC has revealed she has accepted instructions through the lawyers representing Ms Millar, who has been charged by police with offences under section 127 of the Communications Act 2003 over her social media activity in 2019.
Ms Millar, 50, an accountant from Airdrie, had retweeted an image of a bow of ribbons in the Suffragette colours of green, white and purple tied around a tree outside the BBC studio where River City is filmed.
It is understood Police Scotland received a complaint about the image, on the basis the ribbons represented a noose. Other complaints regarding Ms Millar’s tweets have not yet been made public. She is to appear at Glasgow Sheriff Court next month.
Ms Cherry, who will return to
Arnot Manderson Advocates, said that as she no longer had front bench duties for the SNP in Westminster, she would take on “human rights and public law cases from time to time as my duties as a constituency MP allow”.
She said: “I am grateful to the dean of the Faculty [of Advocates] for granting me a dean’s dispensation to reflect the fact that my availability to be instructed will necessarily be limited by the requirement to be at Westminster regularly and to fulfil my duties to my constituents.
“In this respect I will be following in the tradition of fellow members of the Faculty of Advocates, including John Smith and Menzies Campbell, who combined the occasional practice of law with their duties as MPS.”
Ms Cherry added: “I remain very committed to the law as an instrument for upholding human rights and preventing discrimination and I am sure that there will be a synergy between the cases I take on and the values I have championed in elected politics, particularly respect for human rights, equality and the rule of law.”
She has been at the forefront of a bitter row within the SNP about the impact on women’s rights on proposed changes to the Gender Recognition Act.