UK must block SNP gender reform, insists ex-law officer
THE SNP’s gender reforms should be blocked by the UK Government, a former Advocate General for Scotland has said.
Lord Richard Keen backed the findings of a think-tank report that called for UK ministers to use a Section 35 order to stop the Gender Recognition Reform (Scotland) Bill from securing Royal Assent.
The report, published today by think tank Policy Exchange, found the Bill would ‘fundamentally alter’ the law relating to equal opportunities across the whole of the United Kingdom.
The SNP’s reforms will allow people to change their gender without a medical diagnosis of gender dysphoria.
The minimum age for applying for a gender recognition certificate will be lowered to 16 and the amount of time someone needs to live in a new gender before applying will be cut to just three months for over-18s.
Scottish Secretary Alister Jack is due to make the final decision on whether to impose a Section 35 order by the middle of next week.
In a foreword to the Policy Exchange report, Lord Keen, who served as Advocate General for Scotland from 2015 to 2020, said: ‘It would not only be impractical but constitutionally improper for the UK Government to permit a devolved legislature to enact a provision that had a material impact upon the operation of the law throughout the UK.’
He added that ‘the position of the Scottish Government has remained opaque and at times contradictory’.
The paper, by Dr Michael Foran, a lecturer in public law at the University of Glasgow, says the legislation would affect the 2010 Equality Act by making it legally possible for someone without gender dysphoria to change their legal sex, which is a ‘protected characteristic’. It adds that it would also make it ‘potentially more difficult for women-only spaces to exclude biological males’.
A UK Government spokesman said: ‘We share the concerns that others – including the Equality and Human Rights Commission and the UN special rapporteur on violence against women and girls – have with the Bill, particularly around safety issues for women and children.
‘We are looking closely at these issues, and also the ramifications for the 2010 Equality Act and other UK-wide legislation.
‘No final decisions have been made and we are considering our next steps.’
A Scottish Government spokesman said: ‘Any attempt by the UK Government to undermine the democratic will of the Scottish parliament will be vigorously contested.
‘We have always been clear that the Bill does not impact on the Equality Act, and the Bill as passed puts that position beyond doubt.’
‘Opaque and contradictory’