Scottish secretary 'didn't act irrationally' in blocking Sturgeon's gender law

Alistair Jack vetoed the Gender Recognition Reform Bill by presenting an Order under Section 35 of the Scotland Act. Photo: Geoff Pugh for The Telegraph

Scots Secretary 'didn't act irrationally' when he vetoed Nicola Sturgeon's gender identity law, UK government legal documents say ahead of a court showdown with SNP ministers next month.

This included fears that the SNP gender recognition reform would increase the bill, he said. the number of «fraudulent» claims from people who wanted to take advantage of «more limited «guarantees» in the law.»

Lord Stewart added that Mr Jack did not take into account «irrelevant considerations» in his decision and he had «reasonable grounds» to conclude that the law would affect the equality laws, which are reserved for Westminster.

Rejecting the SNP's claim that the veto had grossly hurt the Scottish Parliament, he said it was «part of a set of carefully crafted checks and balances» in the Scotland Act that led to the devolution.

Nicola Sturgeon faced strong backlash over her gender identity reforms when she was First Minister. Photo: Andrew Cowan/Scottish Parliament/PA Wire. for a formal medical diagnosis of gender dysphoria.

It would also greatly reduce the amount of time someone has to live in their «acquired field» from two years to just six months, and allow 16 and 17-year-olds to receive gender recognition certificates for the first time.

The reforms sparked a huge public outcry after Isla Bryson, a transgender double rapist, was first sent to a women's prison in February and then transferred to a men's prison.

While Bryson was not legally gender reassigned, the leadership of the Scottish The Prison Service at the time stated that trans offenders should be sent to a prison that matches the gender they lived in prior to conviction.

Mr Jack vetoed the bill by presenting an order under section 35 of the Scotland Act. Humza Yousaf, Ms Sturgeon's successor as First Minister, has filed a motion for judicial review despite lawyers warning that he has little chance of success.

The Court of Session is due to sit three times. -Day Hearing starting September 19th before Lady Haldane.

Transgender rights activists held a protest in January shortly after Number 10 announced it would block the SNP's gender law. Photo: Geoff J. Mitchell/Getty Images

Lord Hope Craighead, a former Vice Chief Justice of the UK, warned earlier this year that the Scottish government had a «very low» chance of a successful judicial review and doubted that its planned the lawsuit was «a wise use of public money».

In a statement, Lord Stewart said that for SNP ministers to succeed they would have to prove that the Scottish Secretary acted «so outrageously in his defiance of logic or accepted moral standards that no sane person who applied his reason to a matter that should be resolved, could come to that.”

Lord Stewart said the SNP ministers misinterpreted Mr. Jack's concerns as a mere “political disagreement”.

“The Secretary of State considers it not the discrepancy itself that is unfavorable, but the impact that particular instances of discrepancy may have on the operation of the law as it is enforced,” he said.

Defense concerns expressed

note» posted on the Scottish Office website outlining his case, he said: «The Secretary of State's conviction that he had enough information to issue an order was open to him. It follows logically from their terms that the amendments to the bill would weaken the Act 2004's safeguards against fraudulent or malicious applications.»

He expressed concern that «the adequacy of the safeguards in the bill was confirmed during the passage of the bill through the Scottish Parliament , including the UN Special Rapporteur.”

Charity organizations such as Stonewall, Gendered Intelligence and the Institute for Constitutional and Democratic Research will be able to present written evidence to the court of the adverse effects of the Westminster decision.

The Scottish Government declined to comment on Lord Stewart's case.