Nicola Sturgeon will use gender row to drive support for Scottish independence but it’s hard to change minds
The i says The topic of trans rights always has the potential to be politically explosive, given the strongly held views on both sides of the argument.
Scotland’s Gender Recognition Reform Bill was fiercely contested as it passed through Holyrood last year – but now the battle has broken out into a constitutional row.
Rishi Sunak’s confirmation on Monday that he will seek to block the law from taking effect has met with fury from the Scottish Government and supporters of Scottish independence.
The mechanism set to be used, section 35 of the Scotland Act, has never before been deployed. Its usage is a sign of the poor relations between the governments, but will only deepen the rift.
The principle that some areas of policy are “reserved” to Westminster is a long-standing one, and the arguments about whether the gender Bill does indeed cut across those areas are complex and technical.
But the response was inevitable. Nicola Sturgeon and her allies argue that blocking a piece of legislation passed through the Scottish Parliament with cross-party support shows Scotland can never determine its own future.
