Tag Archives: alister jack

Caron Lindsay

Jardine challenges Scottish Secretary over Gender Reform

By Caron Lindsay | Tue 17th January 2023 - 7:58 pm

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.

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.

Continue reading »
Posted in Op-eds | Also tagged , , , , and | 1 Comment
Advert

Recent Comments

  • Suzanne Fletcher
    Maybe I have missed something but I can't see anything about Starmers "Island of Strangers" speech? I haven't come across anyone not angry/upset about this. O...
  • Greg Hyde
    "That wasn’t what voters who came together to drive the Conservatives out of government were voting for".....Let's be honest Mark in relation to immigration, ...
  • David Raw
    On the subject of British politicians and racial prejudice, I remember from my very young days the treatment of Seretse Khama by both the Attlee government and ...
  • Peter Martin
    @ Mick Taylor, "Liberals were the only people to oppose changes to immigration based on race..." ?? That's not actually true. Nearly all grou...
  • Mick Taylor
    I was making three points. 1. When Labour have a choice on immigration, they make the wrong, often racist one and the one which makes no economic sense. 2. Li...