It is laudable that SNP and Green politicians want to improve the lives of trans people in Scotland. The rules on how people can change their legally recognised gender are inflexible and out of date.
A majority of MSPs yesterday voted in favour of the Gender Recognition Reform Bill despite a flood of objections from women’s groups. But just as supporters of reform were celebrating, the UK Government threw a spanner in the works.
Tory ministers have suggested the Bill may be incompatible with equalities laws – a matter reserved to Westminster. The UK Government is now reviewing the legislation and could challenge it – or even refuse to allow it to go forward for Royal Assent.
If that happens, the Bill would be effectively rendered useless despite the hours of parliamentary time devoted to it. Opponents of GRR had warned it could impinge on UK equality laws, so this cannot have come as a complete surprise to the Scottish Government.
The legislation has already stirred strong emotions and there is now a risk it could have been all for nothing. SNP ministers are confident their legislation is robust and could withstand a possible Supreme Court challenge.
But if the legislation ultimately crashes it would be a bitter blow for campaigners who spent so long calling for reform. And it would make a mockery of Holyrood’s ability to pass landmark legislation when required.
There were plenty of MSPs warning that the new law could infringe women’s sex-based rights. Maybe if these concerns had been listened to and acted upon, this new law would not be in the middle of a damaging spat between the UK and Scottish governments.
Shortfall scandal
Thousands of Scots try to do the right thing by their families by saving up for funeral plans. We’ve all seen the TV ads for these services – and they are usually provided by safe and trusted companies.
But the Record reports today on Scots facing a massive shortfall in their plans after the collapse of one firm, Safe Hands. The experiences of the three women we spoke to who took out policies with this firm make tragic reading.
They paid into their Safe Hands plans faithfully for many years. But after the collapse of the firm, they will be left with only a fifth of the money they put in. It is feared thousands of Scots could be in the same boat.
This is a national scandal and the MSPs trying to change the law to protect consumers should be applauded. Nobody should face this kind of financial worry in their later years.
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