SNP hammer blow as gender reform legislation veto dominated authorized | Politics | News | EUROtoday

Humza Yousaf has been dealt one other humiliating blow after Scotland’s highest civil court docket sided with the UK Government over its determination to dam a flagship gender reform Bill.

Westminster blocked the woke Holyrood laws from changing into legislation final yr, claiming it could breach UK-wide equality guidelines.

At the time, it was the primary ever case of the UK Government blocking a Scottish Parliament Bill from changing into legislation.

The SNP Government challenged the transfer within the Court of Session with its high legislation officer, Lord Advocate Dorothy Bain, arguing that Scotland Secretary Alister Jack didn’t have “reasonable grounds” to make use of a veto.

In a humiliating slap-down this lunchtime, the Court of Session in Edinburgh sided with the UK Government, saying that Prime Minister Rishi Sunak and his ministers acted lawfully when blocking the reforms.

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Ms Bain additionally argued that if the UK Government was profitable, Westminster “could veto practically any act of the Scottish Parliament having an impact on reserved matters because he disagreed with it on policy grounds”.

The SNP’s Bill would have made it considerably simpler for folks to vary their legally recognised intercourse.

However, there have been widespread issues that the proposal would undermine girls’s security. It was closely criticised by main girls’s rights campaigners, together with JK Rowling.

The Harry Potter creator accused Nicola Sturgeon, who was Scotland’s first minister on the time, of being a “destroyer of women’s rights”.

Responding to the ruling, Mr Jack welcomed the court’s judgment to uphold his decision.

He said: “I used to be clear that this laws would have had opposed results on the operation of the legislation because it applies to reserved issues, together with on essential Great Britain-wide equality protections.

“Following this latest court defeat for the Scottish Government, their ministers need to stop wasting taxpayers’ money pursuing needless legal action and focus on the real issues which matter to people in Scotland – such as growing the economy and cutting waiting lists.”

The deputy chief of the Scottish Tories, Meghan Gallacher MSP, mentioned the ruling 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”.

She mentioned: “Their reckless Gender Recognition Reform Bill is deeply unpopular with the Scottish public because its self-ID principle compromises the safety of women and girls – as the case of a double-rapist being sent to a female prison demonstrated.

“In addition, the Bill impacted on equalities law south of the border, which is why the UK Government had no option but to issue a Section 35 Order.

“Rather than taking that as a cue to redraft their flawed Bill, the SNP dug their heels and turned an issue of women’s safety into another constitutional grievance – a cynical tactic which has backfired today.

“Humza Yousaf must now listen to the court, as well as the court of public opinion, not appeal this ruling and ditch the Bill for good. We all want to see the lives of trans people improved but that can’t come at the expense of the hard-won rights of women and girls.”

Responding to the court slapdown, Humza Yousaf described it as a “darkish day for devolution”.

“Today’s judgment confirms past doubt that devolution is basically flawed. The Court has confirmed that laws handed by a majority in Holyrood could be struck down by Westminster.

“The only way to guarantee we get true self-government is through independence.

“Sovereignty ought to lie with the folks of Scotland, not a Westminster Government we did not vote for with the flexibility to overrule our legal guidelines.”