Almost half of Scottish voters oppose ‘gender self-ID’ Bill

Nearly half of Scots believe the Scottish Government should ‘completely drop’ its radical gender self-ID Bill, new polling has revealed.

The research, conducted by Panelbase for The Sunday Times, found that 44 per cent of Scottish voters said the Gender Recognition Reform (Scotland) Bill should be axed.

Last week, Scotland’s new First Minister Humza Yousaf announced his intention to push through the Bill which was vetoed by the UK Government. But fewer than one in five polled (18 per cent) thought Westminster should be challenged for blocking the Bill.

‘Reckless’

If the Bill became law, 16-year-olds would be allowed to change their legal sex by self-declaration without a medical diagnosis.

Scottish Conservative MSP Rachael Hamilton said: “The SNP railroaded their deeply unpopular gender reform Bill through Parliament” and now “they would rather continue playing constitutional games rather than working constructively to fix this reckless legislation”.

She stated: “The UK Government were left with little option to intervene because of the impact on equalities legislation across the country. Humza Yousaf should reflect on this, rather than trying to pick another fight with the UK Government.”

Nearly a quarter of those surveyed (24 per cent) backed a compromise with the UK Government, while 14 per cent were undecided.

‘Mistake’

Former Supreme Court judge, Lord Hope, has told BBC Scotland it would be a “mistake” for the Scottish Government to go to court. He said it was likely a court would decide that Scottish Secretary Alister Jack had “acted reasonably” in blocking the reforms.

In January, Mr Jack explained: “After thorough and careful consideration of all the relevant advice and the policy implications, I am concerned that this legislation would have an adverse impact on the operation of Great Britain-wide equalities legislation.”

The Scottish Government has until 17 April to decide whether to file a judicial review against the UK Government.