Telegraph: Rishi Sunak set to block Nicola Sturgeon's trans law tonight

It’s undemocratic to push through a bill which affects rights of people in the whole of the U.K.

Rishi is a clever guy and knows an awful lot about Sturgeon tactics. I think he knows very well what public opinions is and that if the bill is sorted out, it doesn't necessarily follow that those of us who vote Labour, or SNP will go back to doing so. The spell is broken

I think that's all they can do? The GRA is devolved.

Wow this is huge. Thank you Tories. Never thought I would say that. What a relief.
Is this the end of it? Can the Scottish Govt appeal or something? Anyone know the process?

This is a huge cultural watershed moment- really taking this issue massively mainstream. I am really hoping that women’s and children’s rights will be talked about as rightly being worth protecting, in the coming days.. because the backlash to this will be really furious. But the UK government just needs to stand firm. They are 100% right in this instance.

My prediction is that there will now be some political horsetrading. I reckon they will reopen the GRA to other reforms or something like that will happen.

The Scottish government will be desperate not to look outflanked and the Tories won’t want to be seen as illiberal on social issues, so the Uk gov will want to be seen to give the TRA lobby some concessions. We will need to stay very alert to the impact on women’s and children’s rights of whatever comes next. But for now, this is a big relief.

Politics is about popularity.

Why would you try to appeal to a minority (in this case, the RW base), if the majority supposedly don’t like it?

What’s that going to achieve?

the SNP and Greens have a clear majority, the government using this mechanism is provoking a constitutional problem - many Tories do not agree with what Sunak is doing.

It is not about protecting women's rights, it is about having a constitutional argument over a divisive issue. Long term, this is not going to be helpful.

Leaving aside whether Sturgeon's law is the right approach to take, overruling the Scottish parliament is undemocratic.

If this law stands, I could get a GRC. My husband could get a GRC. Neitherof us are gender dysphoric. Neither if us would intend to live as the opposite sex (what does that even mean) but the Scottish Bill does not define this or make clear what happens if a false declaration is made. If my birth certificate is changed, how can anyone ever say I am not the sex that I say I am, even if my appearance suggests otherwise. That would have an impact on many areas of my life (thank goodness my days of requiring mat leave are over).

Forgot the most important bit........I don't live in Scotland.

Leaving aside whether Sturgeon's law is the right approach to take, overruling the Scottish parliament is undemocratic.

It's undemocratic of the Scottish Parliament to push through a bill which the majority of Scots don't support and which affects rights of people in the whole of the U.K.

im also interested in the polls that say sunak is out of step with the public on this

You'll be waiting some time I imagine.

Or it was a poll on Twitter 😂

This has made me so hopeful.

I couldn't care less about how much I personally align with whoever rides in on the sane white horse, as long as SOMEONE does.

I can actually see that this could become a huge headache for the PM, so I do appreciate them actually following the legal advice.

Leaving aside whether Sturgeon's law is the right approach to take

That’s a rather large thing to conveniently ‘leave aside’ if your interest is in what is - and isn’t - undemocratic.

More sunlight. I shall be very interested to see what Labour do

im also interested in the polls that say sunak is out of step with the public on this

Who cares about what his intentions are as long as it gets done?!

How do you know what he thinks about women’s rights? He has two daughters. I can’t imagine he wants this hassle so you have the wrong end of the stick. And it’s completely democratic, what’s undemocratic is Sturgeon trying to change rules across the U.K. with her ridiculous posturing.

Why is it this?

Women will be interested, as many are on here, but it’s not typically a hot topic with everyone else

pp might be right about SNP using it but the legal side is rearing it’s head over anything else

and agree with pp that part is interesting

Of course it was. That's why it had to be as batshit as they could make it, to force Westminster to step in.

The Alistair Jack statement, read out by Evan on Today just now sounded like they were sending it back to Holyrood to look at removing clashes with the Equalities Act?

Yes to all of this. On the face of it, good that Scottish women won't have to deal with the consequences of this foolish piece of law making. But how infuriating that stopping it is to do with electioneering and a right wing culture war, and not because it is the right thing to do to protect the rights and safety of women.

I don't understand it all but the legal commentary is fascinating.

It's also fascinating that so many TRAs seem to show themselves up questioning the lawyers.

Any response against the UK govt stopping the bill seems to be emotive and not based on reality or even ant attempt to understand why.

Sturgeon Interview in the BBC is completely expected. Blame, blame, blame someone else. Its her mo. It's all she knows.

I remain cautious about what the payoff might be but for now, thumbs up.

And Sturgeon is doing the same but the other way around.

It's always been a win-win for her, using the rights of women and girls to play politics while cloaking herself with the Teflon "progressive" shield.

There are not enough swear words to convey how much I despise that woman and if the Tories are the ones that save our rights so be it, I don't much care what their motives are just as long as something is done to stop this happening.

Yes. I think this is recognised as deliberate SNP tactics.

I hope it’s true! I’ll be following this thread

Sunak is using this opportunity to pretend he cares about women's rights. Interestingly it appears that in polling terms this action is not popular - it alienates more people than it appeals to and Sunak is acting against the advice of the Tories' own elections advisors - but this is about appealing to the RW base in the party.

Leaving aside whether Sturgeon's law is the right approach to take, overruling the Scottish parliament is undemocratic.