Former Supreme Court judge: Gender Bill veto appeal ‘a waste of time’

A former Supreme Court judge has said that any appeal by the Scottish Government to overturn Westminster’s veto of its controversial sex-swap Bill is destined to fail.

Lord Hope of Craighead, said the Scottish Government stood a “very low” chance of success if they appealed, and that taking the issue to court would risk wasting a significant amount of time and money.

Prior to his Supreme Court role, he served as Lord President of the Court of Session and Lord Justice General – Scotland’s highest legal position.

‘A mistake’

Speaking to BBC Scotland’s The Nine, Lord Hope said the case would hinge on whether Scotland’s Gender Recognition Reform Bill would make changes to the UK-wide Gender Recognition Act 2004 and the Equality Act 2010, to which he stated it “most certainly does”.

The second question to consider, he argued was whether the Scotland Secretary Alister Jack ‘acted reasonably in issuing the Section 35 order to veto the Bill’.

He said: “When you look at the reasoning in the document it’s very difficult to see how a court could come to a conclusion to the contrary effect. And that makes me think that actually to go to court and argue it through various levels of court is a mistake.

“It seems to me they are wasting a lot of time, because it will take a lot of time to get through the various levels of court until you get to the Supreme Court, and also question as to whether it is a sensible use of public money.”

‘Devastating document’

First Minister Nicola Sturgeon says she will vigorously defend the legislation in court and that she was “very, very, very confident” of overturning Westminster’s decision.

But responding to her claims, Lord Hope said: “She can decide to do that but I still think it’s open to question whether it’s a wise decision, given the prospect of success, which I would have thought are very low, given the detail in the document that has been published this afternoon.”

He was referring to a detailed list of reasons the legislation could not exist alongside existing UK law, including access to single-sex spaces and gender pay equity, published by the Westminster Government accompanying its decision to veto the Bill.

Lord Hope described it as a “devastating document for those who seek to preserve the Bill as it is at the moment”.