The UK government has this evening confirmed that ministers will move to prevent the Scottish government’s gender recognition legislation from receiving Royal Assent. Announcing the decision in a statement, Scottish Secretary Alister Jack said he had made the decision to make an order under Section 35 of the Scotland Act to stop the legislation passing – on the grounds that it ‘would have an adverse impact on the operation of Great Britain-wide equalities legislation’.
This is the first time in the history of the devolution settlement that the government will make a Section 35 order to block a bill in the Scottish parliament. The concern in Westminster has been that the proposed legislation – which relaxes rules around gender self-ID and therefore gender recognition certificates – could compromise the 2010 Equality Act. Jack cites this as the reason for the action in his statement – adding that the decision has not been taken lightly:
After thorough and careful consideration of all the relevant advice and the policy implications, I am concerned that this legislation would have an adverse impact on the operation of Great Britain-wide equalities legislation.
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