It would have been news if the Commons debate about the Scottish Gender Recognition Bill hadn’t turned ugly quickly. The questions and answers following Scottish Secretary Alister Jack’s statement about using Section 35 of the Scotland Act to stop the progress of that legislation were deeply uncomfortable. Jack insisted that he was merely focusing on the constitutional issues, something Labour’s Ian Murray looked grateful to be able to do, too, given the splits within his own party on this matter.
Jack argued that the government was not using this power ‘lightly’ and that ‘I would prefer not to be in this situation’
A succession of women on the Labour and Conservative benches who raised concerns about the impact of the Holyrood legislation on women across the UK were, however, shouted down by male SNP MPs. Laura Farris and Rachel MacLean from the Tory side told Jack he would be thanked by many women, but both had to stop briefly because of male jeers from the other side of the chamber.
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