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Daily Record
Daily Record
Politics
Andrew Quinn

Mhairi Black claims Douglas Ross 'should be ashamed of himself' for opposing gender reforms

Mhairi Black has told Douglas Ross he "should be ashamed" after he backed the UK Government's decision to block gender recognition reforms passed by the Scottish Parliament.

The SNP MP shouted across the Commons chamber today at the Scottish Conservative leader during heated exchanges.

Scotland Secretary Alister Jack used a statement in parliament to confirm he would issue a Section 35 order to block the Holyrood bill.

It is the first time that such an order has been used to strike down an act of the Scottish Parliament since it was founded in 1999.

Speaking after Jack's statement, Ross told MPs: "Nicola Sturgeon has now tried to turn this into a political battle between the Scottish and UK Government when all, as I understand it, the Scottish Secretary and the Government are trying to do, is protect women's rights."

The statement provoked uproar among the SNP MPs and Black shouted across the chamber: "You should be ashamed of yourself Douglas."

Jack said that the Gender Recognition Reform Bill was being blocked as it "would have a serious adverse impact, among other things, on the operation of the Equality Act 2010.

"Those adverse effects include impacts on the operation of single-sex clubs, associations and schools, and protections such as equal pay.

"The Government shares the concerns of many members of the public and civic society groups regarding the potential impact of the Bill on women and girls.

"The Bill also risks creating significant complications from having two different gender recognition regimes in the UK and allowing more fraudulent or bad faith applications."

He also said that "It is open to the Scottish Government to bring back an amended Bill for reconsideration in the Scottish Parliament."

Some Labour MPs were cheered by the Conservatives when they said that they supported the Government's blocking of the bill.

SNP MP Alan Brown responded: "The Labour MPs who are getting cheers from these guys over there want to have a look at themselves."

Shadow Scotland secretary Ian Murray said that the UK and Scottish governments should be locked in a room until they find a resolution.

He said: “Let’s lock them in a room until they find a resolution to this and don’t let them out until they find it, and I can assure you there’s a way through this, but they are unwilling to take it."

The UK Government published their statement of reasons behind blocking the bill after Jack's statement.

It argued that the Scottish bill could prevent someone from bringing forward an equal pay dispute and would also stop clubs and associations from excluding transgender people.

SNP Westminster leader Stephen Flynn labelled some Conservative MPs “rabid gammon” after they heckled a colleague during the emergency debate which followed the statement.

SNP MP for Perth and North Perthshire Pete Wishart labelled the statement of reasons published by the UK Government as “poorly formed”.

He added: “One example of that is on equal pay – they seem to believe a trans man would take advantage of the opportunity to be paid less.

“That’s the type of rubbish that’s included in this. What does he think of that?”

Flynn replied: “I’ve not had the opportunity to look at that myself but if that’s the case it’s a complete and utter embarrassment, and it shows just as this Secretary of State was unprepared today in relation to this matter, so too is his Government in relation to the arguments that they are putting forward.

“I’m a little bit embarrassed for them in this regard.”

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