UK ‘foreign govt’ jibe at debate
HUMZA yousaf branded Westminster a “foreign government” in a row over gender reforms last night during the final SNP leadership debate.
The Health Secretary clashed with Kate Forbes and Ash Regan over whether the Scottish Government should launch a legal challenge over Tory ministers blocking the Gender Recognition Reform (GRR) bill.
The three candidates were appearing on Times Radio.
yousaf repeated his pledge he would go to court if he becomes first minister to try to overturn a blocking mechanism handed down by the UK Government.
A majority of MSPs voted to pass the GRR bill – which aims to make it easier for people to change their legally recognised gender – in December. but Alister Jack, the Scottish Secretary, issued a rarely used Section 35 order which prevented it from becoming law amid fears it trampled on UK-wide equalities legislation.
yousaf said: “The substance of the bill is not necessarily the relevance here. The principle is standing up against that Westminster veto.”
Forbes, who had said gender reform was “not a priority for the people of Scotland”, suggested she would only go to court if there was no alternative.
The Finance Secretary, who was on maternity leave when the bill was passed last year, revealed she had “significant concerns” about the legislation.
She said: “If there is no legal alternative to court, I’ll go to court but I think there is an alternative.
“If we are a party that wants to be independent, a government that wants to be independent, we need to be able to resolve our own challenges ourselves.”
yousaf cut in: “If we were independent, we would not have a foreign government, for example, coming in and vetoing our legislation.”
Regan resigned her junior ministerial position last year in opposition to GRR.
She said: “I won’t be going to court because I think the legal analysis will tell us that we will lose our court case.”