Keir Starmer sides with Nicola Sturgeon on Scottish gender law trends now
View
comments
Sir Keir Starmer has sided with Nicola Sturgeon over Scotland's radical gender reforms.
He opposes Westminster using its ultimate veto to block the SNP government's controversial plan to let people as young as 16 change their legal sex.
The Labour leader does not think single-sex spaces are put at risk by making it easier for anyone to change sex, and his spokesman would not condemn the party's MPs who barracked a colleague as she defended women's rights in a heated Commons debate on Tuesday.
Ministers say they were forced to take the unprecedented step of vetoing legislation passed by the Scottish Parliament because the Gender Recognition Reform (Scotland) Bill would have had a 'serious adverse impact' on equality laws across the UK.
Nicola Sturgeon's government's new reform would see people as young as 16 to legally change their gender
Sir Keir's spokesman said the UK and Scottish governments could have resolved the 'totally unnecessary' row before the unprecedented Section 35 veto was issued and he could not point to anything in the Scottish reforms that posed a threat to single-sex spaces
In a further blow to the Scottish First Minister, former Supreme Court judge Lord Hope said yesterday the Government's reasons were 'devastating' and that Miss Sturgeon's chances of winning a legal challenge were 'very low'.
But Sir Keir's