RISHI Sunak has said he is waiting on “final advice” over whether to intervene and block gender reform legislation passed by the Scottish Parliament last month.
MSPs voted overwhelmingly and with cross-party support to simplify and shorten the process of changing gender in the country.
However, the UK Government has said it is considering blocking Royal Assent of the Gender Recognition Reform (Scotland) Bill and preventing it from becoming law due to concerns over how it would interact with UK-wide gender legislation.
When asked by the BBC whether his government was intending to make the move to prevent devolved legislation from becoming law in Scotland, Rishi Sunak said he was still seeking advice on how best to proceed.
He said: “Obviously it’s a sensitive area. As is completely standard practice, when the Scottish Parliament passes a law it’s completely normal for the UK Government to take advice on the impact of that law across the UK and then consider how best to proceed.
“That’s the process that’s underway at the moment. I think that’s entirely reasonable and standard so that’s where we are.
“What I’m concerned about is the impact of the bill across the United Kingdom. These questions kind of slightly demonstrates that there may be impacts across the UK that we need to be aware of and understand the impact of them and that’s what we’re doing.”
Section 35 of the Scotland Act 1998, entitled “Power to intervene in certain cases”, authorises the Secretary of State for Scotland to make an order prohibiting a bill from being submitted for Royal Assent.
However, the SNP’s leader at Westminster Stephen Flynn said that an intervention by the UK Government would raise questions about the nature of democracy in Scotland.
He told the BBC on Friday: “This is not just a question about the GRR [Gender Recognition Reform Bill], people’s individual views on it. This is about democracy.
“The Scottish Parliament has voted in favour of legislation that sits within devolved competencies, and it’s incumbent upon Westminster to ensure that legislation is passed in full.”
They included members of the Scottish Family Party, Unionist Clubs Scotland, and activists who have previously spread misinformation about Covid-19 vaccines on social media.
