Court threat to Rishi over gender row

HUMZA Yousaf last night vowed to take Rishi Sunak to court for blocking controversial plans to introduce gender self-identification.

Scotland’s new First Minister and SNP leader used his victory press conference to pledge legal action against the UK government for vetoing Scotland’s Gender Recognition Reform (GRR) Bill, which was passed by the Scottish parliament.

‘I see it [the UK decision] as a veto, as a power grab by the UK government… I don’t think they have any right to use that,’ he said, adding: ‘My starting principle is to challenge that order.’

Gender self-ID was backed by both Labour and the SNP in Scotland in a controversial vote last year. But it triggered a public backlash after transgender rapist Isla Bryson was sent to a women’s prison.

The controversy helped trigger Nicola Sturgeon’s resignation last month. Rival leadership candidate Kate Forbes had indicated that she would ditch the legislation, which would allow children as young as 16 to change their gender without a medical diagnosis.

In an unprecedented move, UK government ministers used reserve powers to block the devolved administration from bringing it in, warning that it would undermine protections for women-only spaces in the Equality Act.

Michael Gove yesterday urged Mr Yousaf to work with ministers to make the legislation acceptable rather than resorting to the courts. The Communities Secretary told MPs: ‘You can’t change your gender just by saying that you are a different gender.’

Mr Gove added: ‘I think the Bill was flawed in a number of ways.

‘The principle that an individual could selfidentify as of a different gender when they were still palpably biologically the gender that they were assigned at birth – the gender which any physician would acknowledge was manifestly the case, allowing people including sexual offenders access to women’s spaces, that has to be addressed.’