Katy Balls Katy Balls

Could the UK government block the SNP’s gender recognition bill?

Secretary of State for Scotland Alister Jack (Credit: Getty images)

Is the UK government gearing up for a court battle with the Scottish parliament over gender self-ID? This afternoon, Holyrood passed the gender recognition bill by 86 votes to 39. This makes Scotland the first part of the UK to give the green light to a process of self-identification for legally changing gender. The controversial legislation has so far seen one Scottish government minister resign and more SNP politicians speak out to voice concern. When the outcome of the vote was read out, it was met with a mix of cheers and jeers from the public gallery, with opponents of the bills shouting ‘shame on you’.

What’s more, the bill could still be open to challenge. It’s no great secret that ministers in Rishi Sunak’s government harbour concerns over the legislation. Just this week, equalities minister Kemi Badenoch met her SNP counterpart Shona Robison to urge her government to carefully think about the gender reform plans.

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