Equality law replaces ‘immediate threat’ to devolution

Conservative proposals to make gender reassignment a special issue for the UK government are a “clear and immediate threat” to devolution, the first minister has said.

John Swinney told BBC Scotland News Tory election promise for rewrite the Equality Act will “erode the powers” of the Scottish Parliament in the process.

Minister for women and equality Kemi Badenoch told the Times newspaper that “it is not possible for different gender recognition regimes in different countries.”

The Scottish government’s gender recognition bill is blocked last year by the UK government, which said the draft law would conflict with equality protections in place in the home country.

There are legal challenges to the veto rejected in the Court of Session in Edinburgh in December.

Mr Swinney accused the Conservatives of being “on the warpath” against Holyrood with the new proposal.

He said: “The Conservatives are keen to use any excuse they can to remove the powers of the Scottish parliament.”

The first minister added that changes to the Equality Act signaled a “clear and direct threat” and an “attack” on devolution.

At Equality Act 2010it is illegal to discriminate against anyone based on a “protected characteristic”, which includes age, disability, religion, race, gender and sexual orientation.

However, there is still a debate about whether sex only refers to biological sex, or if people with a gender recognition certificate are also included in the law.

The Tory proposal would see the act only apply to biological sex, meaning places such as public toilets, hospital wards and rape crisis centers would be able to refuse people who are biologically male but identify as female.

Scottish Conservative leader Douglas Ross denied the party was trying to create a culture war over the issue.

And it says women and girls should have equal protection in the UK.

Prime Minister Rishi Sunak previously said the change was a response to “current confusion about the definition of sex and gender”, and would help women’s “safety”.

Meanwhile, Scottish Labor leader Anas Sarwar called the policy pledge an attempt to create a “culture war.”

Mr Sarwar told BBC Scotland News that the law needed “clarification”, rather than rewriting.

He said: “What the Conservatives want is to make a dead cat issue in this election, to create a culture war and talk about a long process of legislative reform, when in fact the Equality Act already protects the biological sex.”

Mr Sarwar added that any legislative change required a “mature approach” and that Labor would seek further guidance in the future.

Lorna Slater, co-leader of the Scottish Greens, championed the gender recognition bill at Holyrood. He said he was “deeply concerned” by Ms Badenoch’s comments.

He added that he was “surprised that Westminster is further breaching the devolution settlement”.

Wendy Chamberlain, deputy leader of the Scottish Liberal Democrats, said the plan had “no substance”.

He added: “The Section Order 35 years ago, de facto, made gender reserved for Westminster and in terms of single-sex provisions, that exclusion is already in the act.”

When Holyrood passed the Scottish government’s gender recognition reform, the UK government was not shy about creating a constitutional conflict by using its power to block the law., writes Lynsey Bews, Political Correspondent.

Now the Conservatives have gone further by declaring that they want to bring the issue under Westminster control in order to – as the equality minister Kemi Badenoch put it – “stop devolved government in this place”.

The plan was approved by fellow Scots, who believe that opposition to the SNP’s plan to introduce an individual id system for transpeople is a potential vote winner in this election.

Certainly, the issue has gained a lot of political bandwidth for nationalists over the past few years.

It has opened up divisions within the SNP, with tensions arising over the Greens’ influence in this area during the Bute Housing Agreement.

John Swinney may not be happy to return to the grass of the gender debate but he will feel strong when talking about the power struggle.

The prospect of a British Government taking control of the devolved issue allows the SNP to move into the current constitutional debate.