After the statement, the SNP's Westminster Leader applied for, and was granted
an emergency debate on this matter and that will start shortly in
the Commons and will last up to two hours.
Mr Speaker, today I will make an order under section 35 of the
Scotland Act 1998 preventing the Gender Recognition Reform
(Scotland) Bill from proceeding to Royal Assent.
This Order will mean the Presiding Officer of the Scottish
Parliament will not submit the Bill for Royal Assent.
This Government believes however that transgender people deserve
our respect, our support and our understanding.
My decision is centred on the legislation’s consequences for the
operation of reserved matters, including equality legislation
across Scotland, England and Wales.
The Scottish Government’s Bill would introduce a new process for
applying for legal gender recognition in Scotland.
The changes include reducing the minimum age a person can apply
for a Gender Recognition Certificate from eighteen to sixteen,
and removing the need for a medical diagnosis and evidence of
having lived for two years in their acquired gender.
The Bill would amend the Gender Recognition Act 2004, which
legislated for a single gender recognition system across the UK
and which received a Legislative Consent Motion from the Scottish
Parliament.
The approach taken in the Scottish Government’s Gender
Recognition Reform Bill was the subject of intense debate in the
Scottish Parliament.
A number of significant amendments were tabled right up until the
end of the Bill’s passage.
And the Minister for Women and Equalities corresponded with and
met with the Cabinet Secretary to discuss the UK
Government’s concerns, before the Bill had reached its final
stage.
Mr Speaker, I have not taken this decision lightly.
The Government has looked closely at the potential impact of the
Bill and I have considered all relevant policy and operational
implications, together with the Minister for Women and
Equalities.
And it is our assessment that the Bill would have a serious
adverse impact, among other things, on the operation of the
Equality Act 2010.
Those adverse effects include impacts on the operation of
single-sex clubs, associations and schools, and protections such
as equal pay.
The Government shares the concerns of many members of the public
and civic society groups regarding the potential impact of the
Bill on women and girls.
The Bill also risks creating significant complications from
having two different gender recognition regimes in the UK and
allowing more fraudulent or bad faith applications.
The Government is today publishing a full Statement of Reasons,
alongside the order, which will set in full the adverse effects
the Government is concerned about.
Mr Speaker, I would like to address the claims put forward by
those who would seek to politicise this decision and claim that
this is some kind of “constitutional outrage” and you can hear
them Mr Speaker, you can hear them.
The section 35 power was included in the Scotland Act, which
established the Scottish Parliament.
This the first time the power has been exercised and I
acknowledge that this is a significant decision.
The powers in Section 35 of the Scotland Act are not new,
and this Government has not created them. They have existed
as long as devolution itself.
And we should be clear that the power was included in the Act by
the architects of devolution for a reason. Donald Dewar himself
noted that the power struck an “important balance”.
The section 35 power provides a sensible measure to ensure that
devolved legislation does not have adverse impacts on reserved
matters, including on equalities legislation such as the Equality
Act 2010.
This is not about preventing the Scottish Parliament from
legislating on devolved matters but about ensuring that we do not
have legal frameworks in one part of the UK which have adverse
effects on reserved matters.
And we should be clear that this is absolutely not about the UK
Government being able to veto Scottish Parliament legislation
whenever it chooses, as some have implied.
The power can only be exercised on specific grounds - and the
fact that this is the first time it has been necessary to
exercise the power in almost twenty-five years of devolution
emphasises that it is not a power to be used lightly.
In the instance of the Gender Recognition Reform (Scotland) Bill,
I have concluded that the bill would have serious, adverse
effects on the operation of the Equality Act 2010.
As I set out in my correspondence with the First Minister
yesterday, I would prefer not to be in this situation.
The UK Government does all we can to respect the devolution
settlement and to resolve disputes.
It is open to the Scottish Government to bring back an amended
Bill for reconsideration in the Scottish Parliament.
So to conclude, Mr Speaker, I have set out to the Scottish
Government that should they choose to do so, I hope we can work
together to find a constructive way forward that both respects
devolution and the operation of UK Parliament legislation.
And I commend this statement to the House.
