Humza Yousaf should take gender reform bill back to Holyrood to save taxpayer cash
Scotland’s gender recognition reform laws has left a conundrum for the First Minister. The level of concern among people in Scotland about the legislation should have been enough for the government to pause and think again before enacting it.Amendments could and should have been made as concerns grew to produce a solid piece of law that offered more rights for transgender people while still giving protection to all women.
Instead we are left with tensions flaring, sky-high legal bills and a minority population who feel they’ve been demonised and used as a political football.All sides of the debate have been failed by it.
Humza Yousaf is now stuck between a rock and a hard place. If he does what his partners in government, the Green Party, want and appeals the ruling, it will mean spending more taxpayers’ money on something so divisive it’s likely to result in a bigger public outcry.Never mind the tricky task to explain to his core supporters why he thinks a UK court in London has a superior opinion to Scotland’s highest civil court.
And it would hardly be a vote of confidence in our judicial system or the country’s ability to handle tough legal decisions.With Scottish Secretary Alister Jack mulling over whether to bill Holyrood for Westminster’s £150,000 legal costs in this whole debacle, it should be a non-starter.
