UK veto will destroy gender reforms, says Scottish judge

NICOLA STURGEON’S gender reforms will be “destroyed” by the UK Government’s objections, one of Scotland’s most senior judges has said.

Lord Hope of Craighead, a former deputy president of the UK Supreme Court, said the Scottish Secretary’s document detailing the reasons for blocking the Gender Recognition Reform (GRR) Bill was “devastating”.

Ms Sturgeon’s chances of overturning the UK Government’s veto of her gender reforms are now “very low” and she should think again about wasting public money on a court battle, according to Lord Hope.

He said Ms Sturgeon was making “a mistake” applying to the courts for a judicial review, warning the process would be time-consuming and questioning whether it was a “sensible use of public money”.

One of the UK’S most respected legal authorities on devolution, Lord Hope said the First Minister was “quite wrong” to claim the veto was a “full-frontal attack” on the Scottish Parliament.

He said the power was “not destroying devolution at all” but was included in the Scotland Act that created Holyrood. He said it had not previously been used as “until now the Scottish Parliament has been very careful not to create the problems that have been created by this particular Bill”.

Lord Hope said Ms Sturgeon should instead “take a deep breath and everyone should calm down” and rationally consider “to what extent the Bill should be rescued”.

He admitted that addressing all the concerns set out by the UK Government “really more or less destroys the Bill”.