Gender Recognition Certificates and Section 35
Following the decision by the Scottish Parliament to pass its Gender Recognition Reform (Scotland) Bill, the UK Government implemented a Section 35 to block its passing into law citing concerns about the impact it would have on the Equality Act 2010 throughout the rest of the country.
This allowed the Scottish Government to clash with the UK Government but did not provide any legislative outcomes for the Scottish people. This was irresponsible and constitutional conflicts should have been resolved when concerns were originally raised about them.
You can read Darren’s response as follows:
Dear Constituent,
Thank you for your email following the vote in the Scottish Parliament on the Gender Recognition Reform (Scotland) Bill and the subsequent decision of the UK Government to block its implementation.
The Labour Party is the party of equality. It was a Labour government which passed both the Equality Act 2010 and the Gender Recognition Act 2004, and I am proud of our history in tackling prejudice and discrimination. We are committed to upholding all equality legislation, and to defending the rights of everyone with protected characteristics under the Equality Act.
This is a sensitive issue with people who deserve respect and representation at the heart of it. In order to protect people’s characteristics, I believe we need to find a way that upholds both existing sex based rights and rights and freedoms of transgender people.
The Scottish Parliament has the power to create some law for Scotland, but these laws must not impact those which remain the sole responsibility of the United Kingdom Parliament, this includes the Equality Act. This is set out in the Scotland Act 1998, which was also passed by the last Labour government.
The Equality and Human Rights Commission (EHRC) is the statutory regulator of that the Equality Act in the United Kingdom. They have expressed concern that the proposed changes to the law in Scotland, including that it will affect the
“…operation of other provisions relating to sex discrimination across Britain, including equal pay between women and men, gender pay gap reporting, and measures to address disadvantages experienced by women”.
The Scottish National Party have been irresponsible in not resolving these and other issues contained within this Bill during the legislative process in the Scottish Parliament. This topic allows the SNP to have a constitutional clash with Westminster, but in doing so puts transgender people in a difficult position. That is unfair and it certainly isn’t necessary. It is also clear that some in the Conservative Party are shamefully exploiting this issue to stoke division.
Due to a need to be away from the Parliamentary Estate, I was paired with another Conservative MP who also could not vote during the divisions that took place on the evening of 17th January. This meant that both of our non-votes cancelled the other out and did not affect the overall total. To learn more about the pairing process, please see the following link: https://www.parliament.uk/site-information/glossary/pairing/
In my view, I think it is very important to remember that it is transgender people who will be most affected by those seeking to sow division. We must find a way forward and I hope that we do so without unnecessary anger or hatred in the debate. I will encourage my colleagues across the House to consider how these debates reflect on the UK Parliament and sincerely hope that the Scottish Government are able to resolve the issues outlined by the EHRC before considering their next steps.
Please do let me know if you require any further support at this time.
Yours sincerely,
DarrenDarren Jones MP
Member of Parliament for Bristol North West