ALISTER Jack has claimed that his decision to use a Section 35 order to block Holyrood’s gender reforms from becoming law led to Nicola Sturgeon’s resignation.
Jack, who served as Scottish Secretary for the Tories for five years and is now a member of the House of Lords, suggested that blocking the law passed by cross party MSPs in the Scottish Parliament was “devolution in action”.
Now known as Lord Jack of Courance, the former Dumfries and Galloway MP, said that the former first minister should apologise to gender critical campaigners.
Jack blocked the Gender Recognition Reform (Scotland) Bill from becoming law in January 2023.
The legislation, which had been through two lengthy consultation processes, had the backing of MSPs from all parties, with some Tory MSPs even breaking ranks to back it.
It was the first time Westminster had used a Section 35 order, part of the Scotland Act, to block Holyrood legislation from being given Royal Assent.
The GRR would have made it easier for transgender people in Scotland to obtain a Gender Recognition Certificate (GRC). It would have removed the need for a diagnosis of gender dysphoria and reduced the time applicants had to live in their acquired gender.
Following this, For Women Scotland (FWS) would take the Scottish Government to court over the definition of a woman under the Equality Act 2010, which the judges ruled related to biological sex and did not include women with a GRC.
Jack told the Sunday Times that FWS had been “courageous and extremely dignified in the face of appalling abuse from Nicola Sturgeon and her allies”.
“Nicola Sturgeon dismissed opponents as misogynistic, homophobic and racist — and repeated the slur almost word for word in her book.
“Her behaviour has been disgraceful and her recent claim that she respected the views of others is frankly insulting. She should say sorry.”
Earlier this month, Sturgeon insisted she did not owe gender-critical woman an apology and that “people on both sides of this debate are vilified”.
Jack told the newspaper that his decision to use a S35 order raised fears that it would be “disrespecting devolution” and that the SNP would "seek to capitalise on that”.
The unelected peer added: “I took the opposite view.
“The Section 35 power is there in the Scotland Act for a purpose. Using it was devolution in action.
“In the end there was no public backlash because we were on the right side of public opinion. That might have come as a shock to Nicola Sturgeon, who resigned within a month of the order being made. The issue was clearly a factor in her decision to stand down.”
Sturgeon announced her resignation as first minister on 15 February 2023.
At the time, she said that the "nature and form of modern political discourse" meant there was greater "intensity" and "brutality" to the life of a politician than just a few years ago.
In response to Jack's claims, a spokesperson for Sturgeon said: “No Tory politician will ever know the first thing about being the First Minister of Scotland.
"There's no need to poorly and wrongly speculate – Nicola speaks at length about her decisions and thoughts in her best-selling book, Frankly.”
Jack went on to say that the Supreme Court ruling was “crystal clear” that women-only spaces should be protected and criticised the Scottish Government’s response.
“It is clear that some public bodies, funded by the Scottish government, do not even pretend to accept the law. That needs to change,” he said.
“John Swinney needs to publish guidance that protects women’s spaces and he needs to drive through a culture change across our public bodies that ensures the guidance is followed.”
Following the Supreme Court ruling, the Equality and Human Rights Commission (EHRC) published interim guidance which banned trans people from using single-sex spaces.
Full guidance, which will be used by public and private bodies across the UK, has not yet been published.
