THE Tories will seek to force a vote on whether Green MSP Maggie Chapman should be removed from a key committee role amid a row over comments she made about the Supreme Court’s sex ruling.
Chapman, the deputy convener of Holyrood’s Equalities, Human Rights and Civil Justice Committee, sparked anger after addressing a trans rights protest held in Aberdeen in response to the court’s ruling over the weekend.
She told activists opposing the ruling that sex in the 2010 Equality Act is biological: “We say ‘not in our name’ to the bigotry, prejudice and hatred that we see coming from the Supreme Court and from so many other institutions in our society. Not in our name, never in our name.”
On Tuesday, the Faculty of Advocates, a historic body which represents Scotland’s lawyers, intervened with a damning letter to Chapman accusing her of breaching a 2008 law under which MSPs must uphold the independence of the judiciary.
The faculty’s dean, Roddy Dunlop, also wrote to SNP MSP Karen Adam – the convener of Holyrood’s Equalities, Human Rights and Civil Justice Committee – asking her to consider Chapman’s position as her deputy.
On Wednesday, Chapman was criticised by the Law Society of Scotland, whose president Susan Murray told our sister paper The Herald: “The Supreme Court’s task is to consider the most difficult and complex legal questions and it must be able to do so without fear or favour. It is entirely unacceptable for any politician to discredit the work of our judges when they seek to undertake this task fairly and independently.”
The motion, which will need to be voted on by the committee’s members, reads: “That the Equalities, Human Rights and Civil Justice Committee recommends that the Parliament remove Maggie Chapman from office as a member of the committee.”
Under Holyrood’s rules, the motion needs to win the support of at least one other member of the committee before it goes to a vote. For White, that should prove simple because her fellow Conservative Pam Gosal also has a seat on the body.
Once it has the support of at least two committee members, Holyrood’s rules say the motion must go to a vote at “the first meeting of the committee that is at least two days after the day on which it received the necessary support”. That is likely to be next Tuesday.
SNP MSP Karen Adam (who is the convener), Marie McNair, and Evelyn Tweed also have seats on the seven-member Equalities, Human Rights and Civil Justice Committee. The final seat is held by Scottish Labour’s Paul O'Kane.
On Tuesday, Chapman said she will not be apologising for the remarks, telling The National: "MSPs are elected to represent people. I am not going to stop representing the views of my trans constituents or standing up for their rights."
