Nicola Sturgeon has accused the UK Government of stoking a “culture war” by blocking gender recognition reforms.
The First Minister said the Tories were "weaponising" trans people and undermining Scottish democracy by stopping her Government's Bill from becoming law.
Scottish Secretary Alister Jack today confirmed the UK Government had made an order to halt Holyrood’s Gender Recognition Reform (Scotland) Bill after claiming it could harm women and girls.
The GRR legislation, passed by MSPs last month, makes it simpler for trans people to change gender - but critics fear it would negatively impact on UK equality laws.
The action by the UK Government has sparked a massive constitutional row as the so-called Section 35 provision has never been used before in the history of devolution.
In an interview with the BBC, Sturgeon said her Government would “inevitably” challenge a move in court she described as a “direct attack” on Holyrood.
She said: “If it is allowed to happen on this, then I think that is a very slippery slope of the UK government deciding to veto decisions of the Scottish Parliament anytime you like.”
On multiple occasions, she also said it was part of a wider political attack by the Tories:
“A UK government wanting to undermine the Scottish Parliament and choosing an issue where they think they can stoke some kind of culture war....that's what it is about.
“And in doing that, they're undermining devolution, they're undermining Scottish democracy, but they're also weaponizing a stigmatised, vulnerable, often marginalised group in our society.”
She repeated the “culture war” line again: “I think they're very misguided and mistaken about that.”
She returned to the same theme a third time: “This is a UK Government weaponizing this issue in pursuit of a culture war and in pursuit of their determination to do down, undermine and harm the Scottish Parliament and Scottish democracy in the process.”
One of the key claims about GRR by critics is that sex offenders could abuse a liberalised system for changing gender.
Sturgeon replied: “Men tend not to feel the need to pretend to be women in order to abuse women, they certainly don't feel the need to go through a legal process.”
The GRR reforms aim to speed up the time it takes for a trans person to obtain a gender recognition certificate (GRC) and lowers the age for obtaining one from 18 to 16. A requirement for a person to receive a medical diagnosis of gender dysphoria was also dropped.
Addressing MPs at Westminster, Jack said: “In the instance of the Gender Recognition Reform (Scotland) Bill, I have concluded that the Bill would have serious adverse effects on the operation of the Equality Act 2010.
“As I’ve set out in my correspondence with the First Minister yesterday, I’d prefer not to be in this situation. The UK Government does all we can to respect the devolution settlement and to resolve disputes.
“It is open to the Scottish Government to bring back an amended Bill for reconsideration in the Scottish Parliament.
“I have set out to the Scottish Government that should they choose to do so, I hope we can work together to find a constructive way forward that both respects devolution and the operation of the UK Parliament legislation.”
The "adverse effects" released by the Scotland Office included creating two "parallel and very different regimes" for for issuing and interpreting GRCs in the UK.
Another concern was on the impact on women and girls of the "significantly increased potential" for fraudulent applications to be successful.
Also mentioned was the expansion of the number of people who could obtain a GRC.
Nancy Kelley, CEO of Stonewall, said: "We are saddened by the Secretary of State for Scotland's statement to the House of Commons today. He has decided to block the implementation of the Scottish Gender Recognition Reform Bill, through an order under Section 35 of the Scotland Act. This is a piece of legislation that simply seeks to make the process for legally recognising a trans man or trans women’s gender more respectful and straightforward.
"This is the nuclear option. It is the only time that Section 35 of the Scotland Act has been used since 1998, in an unprecedented move which significantly undermines the devolution settlement and will unlock constitutional and diplomatic strife."
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