Cass report shows why people across the UK must be treated the same

Sir, – Dr Hilary Cass, a leading consultant paediatrician, chairperson of the Independent Review of Gender Identity services for children and young people in England, has recently produced a report that claims that vulnerable young people questioning their gender identity were being let down by the NHS, and by a “toxicity in the trans debate”.

She also highlighted other areas which need to be addressed urgently in dealing with this issue.

When the Scottish Government was made aware of this report, its first comments was that it was not applicable to Scottish children, as if Scottish children questioning their gender identity were somehow different to those in the rest of Britain.

This is the same as saying that someone getting cancer in Scotland is not the same as someone getting cancer in the rest of the UK and is typical of how this Scottish Government treat us.

No doubt they will read the findings in the report and then set up their own inquiry into gender identity services for young people in Scotland and come up with the exact same results.

It is exactly the same with the way that subpostmasters convicted using evidence from Horizon computer system are being dealt with differently in Scotland than those in England and Wales.

The Westminster Government is committed to pardoning everyone in England and Wales who was convicted based on evidence of the Horizon Computing system and giving them appropriate compensation but this is not happening in Scotland.

Humza Yousaf had asked the prime minister to include Scottish subpostmasters in this scheme.

Then it was pointed out the sub-postmasters in England and Wales were prosecuted by the Post Office while those in Scotland had been prosecuted by the Crown Prosecution Service and as such the British Government cannot overturn those prosecutions.

By the way the chief law officer for Scotland, Dorothy Bain KC, has stated that there will not be a blanket pardoning of subpostmasters in Scotland as, in her opinion, not all of the convictions were unsafe and that every case will have to be appealed individually, leading to more misery for those already wrongfully convicted.

When will people realise that we are living on a small island and that the same laws, health service and pensions should apply to everyone in the United Kingdom?

I doubt very much if any one in the whole of the UK could claim to be 100% Scottish, English or Welsh.

The only thing that makes someone from Cornwall different from someone in Caithness if their regional accent.

Hugh Millar, Thurso.

STUDY: Dr Hilary Cass produced a highly-critical review.