The Scottish government has called on its UK counterpart to revoke its order blocking transgender legislation passed by the parliament in Holyrood, indicating it wanted to avoid a legal fight that would delay its implementation.
“The announcement from the Scottish secretary is harmful to trans people, who have waited long enough for improvements,” Shona Robison, Scotland’s social justice secretary, said.
“Being forced to consider the prospect of legal action before these changes are enacted only raises further uncertainty.”
Rishi Sunak’s government in London sparked a constitutional conflict with Nicola Sturgeon’s administration when the Scottish secretary, Alister Jack, said he would invoke Section 35 of the Scotland Act to stop the legislation. Jack said the bill would cut across UK-wide equalities legislation.
Sturgeon, the Scottish first minister, described the move as a “full-frontal” attack on devolution.
The UK government had not expressed any objections to the bill “until the final moments”, Robison said. The legislation had the support of all the main parties in Holyrood, apart from the Conservatives.
