Scotland’s highest court has ruled the U.K. Government acted lawfully by vetoing Nicola Sturgeon’s self-ID gender laws in a humiliating defeat for First Minister Humza Yousaf. The Telegraph has more.
The Court of Session said Alister Jack, the Scottish Secretary, was within his rights to block the Gender Recognition Reform (Scotland) Bill, despite it being approved by MSPs.
The Bill would allow Scots to change their legal gender by simply signing a statutory declaration, dropping the requirement for a formal medical diagnosis of gender dysphoria.
It would also drastically lower the time period in which someone must live in their “acquired gender” from two years to as little as six months and allow 16 and 17-year-olds to obtain gender recognition certificates for the first time.
Mr. Jack made an order under Section 35 of the Scotland Act, which created devolution, to prevent the Bill getting Royal Assent – the first time this power had ever been used.
He argued the legislation undermined U.K.-wide protections for women, including sanctity of female-only safe spaces.
There was a huge public backlash against the reforms after trans predator Isla Bryson was initially sent to a women’s prison in Scotland after being convicted of two rapes.
Humza Yousaf, Ms. Sturgeon’s successor as First Minister and SNP leader, pressed ahead with a petition for judicial review of the decision despite legal experts warning he had little chance of success. The case was heard before Lady Haldane in September.
Meghan Gallacher, the Scottish Conservative deputy leader, said of the recent ruling: “This is a humiliating defeat for Humza Yousaf and the SNP, who have once again squandered taxpayers’ cash on a self-serving but doomed court case.”
Yousaf, however, said inevitably: “Today’s judgment confirms beyond doubt that devolution is fundamentally flawed. The Court has confirmed that legislation passed by a majority in Holyrood can be struck down by Westminster. The only way to guarantee we get true self-government is through independence.”
Because self-government is doing so well for Scottish schoolchildren.
Worth reading in full.
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