Scotland’s civil service removes term ‘mother’

Scotland’s civil service agreed to delete the word “mother” from its maternity leave policy in response to pressure from transgender rights activists, it has emerged.

Documents released under Freedom of Information legislation show that Scottish Government officials agreed to make the change at the request of Stonewall, in a bid to climb a contentious “equality index” compiled by the charity and lobbying group.

“Gay people don’t want the word mother removed,” said Malcolm Clark, director of the LGB Alliance. “For a word that has such resonance [to] be cancelled by a lobbying organisation, with [no] public discussion, is absurd.”