Women and Equalities spokesperson Christine Jardine challenged Scottish Secretary Alister Jack to come up with a single clause in Scotland’s Gender Recognition Reform Bill which undermined the provisions of the Equality Act. Spoiler, he couldn’t. She accused him of playing fast and loose by the Union by attempting to block the Bill.  Watch her comments here.

The Secretary of State couldn’t tell me how the Gender Recognition Reform Bill affects the rights I and every Scottish woman have under the Equality Act. pic.twitter.com/nTBUnmM3ok

— Christine Jardine 🔶 (@cajardineMP) January 17, 2023

Later he issued a flimsy Statement of Reasons for issuing the Section 35 Order. In a later speech, Christine said that to call it weak would be to flatter it. There certainly is much in the way of conjecture within it and absolutely zero evidence to back that up.

At this point it is worth remembering that, not only was a Labour amendment stating the primacy of the Equality Act on the face of the Bill, but even before that every major feminist organisation in Scotland supported it. I can’t see how they would have done if they had thought for a second that it would harm women’s rights. They have certainly not held back in criticising government legislation before. This is one of the most scrutinised pieces of legislation ever, with several consultations, a draft Bill and, finally, the Bill that has been passed.

Let’s remember that this is a simple administrative change enabling trans people to get a new birth certificate so that they don’t run into problems when they try to get married or, even worse, if they die and their death certificate does not state who they are now.

There are two protests against the UK Government’s decision in the coming days. Tomorrow, in London at 5pm, there will be a rally near Downing Street,  meeting at the Montgomery Statue on Whitehall.

On Thursday, in Edinburgh, outside the UK Government’s offices, Queen Elizabeth House, EH8 8FT, a rally will take place at 1:30pm.

I would love to be able to go to the Edinburgh one, but Long Covid makes that very unlikely, but I hope that Edinburgh based Lib Dems will head down there in my place.

* Caron Lindsay is Editor of Liberal Democrat Voice and blogs at Caron's Musings. You can find her on Bluesky at caronmlindsay.bsky.social