The Scottish Government has sustained further criticism on its reaction to last week’s Supreme Court ruling on the Named Person scheme.
This week, Deputy First Minister John Swinney commenced talks with representatives from local authorities, the police and children’s charities and was promptly slammed for failing to include opponents of the plans or “people at the sharp end of the scheme”.
The Government suffered an embarrassing defeat on Thursday last week when the UK Supreme Court ruled the central provisions of the Named Person legislation to be unlawful.
Meeting needed
A spokesman for the No to Named Persons campaign (NO2NP) said the group was “disappointed” that Swinney was consulting “only those who support his Government’s policy”.
“Perhaps the Government should show some common sense and speak to people at the sharp end of the scheme – ordinary mums and dads and those who represent them and who disagree with the scheme.
“As the organisation which successfully challenged the policy through the courts, we would like a meeting with the minister to place our views on the record as to why he should scrap this scheme and the pilot projects.
“We believe our views chime with a significant and growing number of people in Scotland.”
Vindication
The Scottish Government, and in particular Deputy First Minister John Swinney, have been heavily criticised for portraying last week’s ruling as a victory for the Government.
Christian Institute Director Colin Hart said the successful legal action was a “vindication” of years of campaigning to protect families from state interference.
Dismissing Mr Swinney’s claims, he said new Named Person legislation would be impossible to operate in the way the Scottish Government wanted.