Council Elections in Scotland

[MathSage]

I’d planned to vote Alba, as the only party publically supporting women as a sex, but then discovered they weren’t standing anyone in my council district. So at the weekend I emailed all the others standing for parties I had ever voted for in the past just in case there were any candidates who would personally affirm their support for women and girls.

So far I have one reply. It’s both acceptable and detailed. It’s from an SNP candidate who is willing to say a woman is an adult female and understands the Equality Act. I don’t have to spoil my ballot paper!

Here’s what I wrote to the candidates:

I will only vote for candidates who support women and girls’ rights on the basis of sex.

To help me decide whether I can vote for you, please would you answer the following questions:

How do you define what a woman is?

Do you understand that the Equality Act protects single-sex spaces and services? Do you understand that it is entirely lawful to exclude men – regardless of their “gender identity” – in order to ensure women’s privacy, safety and fairness. Examples are areas where women and girls are undressing, sleeping, accessing health & personal care services, hospital wards, prisons and sports.

Will you protect single-sex services in our community? Will you commit to ensuring that building regulations and planning decisions should be used to ensure single-sex toilets and changing rooms. Additionally will you commit to ensuring that funding decisions for women’s charities and refuges should not be conditional on including male-bodied people.

Will you protect the Equality Act characteristic of “sex” in council policies? Will you make sure the words WOMAN and SEX are used in council policies and data collection. Women are not a “gender identity” and do not want to be referred to as chest-feeders or menstruators. We need to collect accurate information on men and women for equality monitoring.

My vote will only go to candidates who #RespectMySex.

I understood that all snp msps had to follow the party line. They are not allowed to eg speak against snp policy. Isn't that why Joanne Cherry left? So whatever they think that isn't what they will vote in parliament.

Why has it taken a private letter/email to find out their stance on the matter - answer because that is not what they say in public (or believe or we would have heard their views before now) as their views would have caused ructions in parliament and news headlines.

That still doesn't alter the fact that local councils and the make-up thereof are totally irrelevant when it comes to the question of whether there is another Indi referendum or not, so making that your top priority in a council election is nonsensical.
Not at all - if there was a swing to another party eg Labour instead of SNP then SNP might take a look at their policies as they want to be sure to get in next scottish election.
Our local councillors are rubbish, keep wasting money on dire projects, but it's still important to vote.

I am voting on local issues this time so not bothered about independence. I did write to all local candidates and had thoughtful responses from Labour and Alba. Never heard back from SNP, and hardly worth writing to the Greens except to counter their lies that no one has raised this as an issue.

Yesterday on Twitter a Green candidate in Kincorth was offering to source HRT for women on the black market. This is the type of person we want running our councils???

@SScoobiedoo

Joanna Cherry has not left the SNP. She's still very much a sitting Westminster SNP MP, and short of her deciding to stand down or leave the party, there's no reason to think she won't continue to be for as long as she wishes.

As for your second post - I can't for the life of me see a scenario where a swing in a local election, that barely 30% of the electorate bother to turn out for, will cause the SNP to fundamentally rethink policies that have taken them through an unprecedented period of electoral success at both national and UK elections, and especially not the flagship policy that is also one of the ideological underpinnings of the party itself.

Local politics and constitutional matters just don't have that degree of correlation.

@shortbob

The term 'black market' is assuredly ill-considered, but it is in no way 'dodgy' to source your medicines and pharmaceuticals from suppliers yourself rather than going through the NHS. Substances that are controlled and/or illegal to purchase, yes, but it's becoming more and more commonplace for people to buy medicines online. If someone experienced in the purchase of a particular substance or group of substances can advise which sites are reputable and trustworthy, and which are not, I can't see why that would be a bad thing.

I've recommended sites for various purposes to people in the past. I don't see why advising a prospective buyer to perhaps consult with someone with experience of using the web for the same purpose is anything other than common sense.

After a conversation with a SNP candidate, who firmly believes that people who self identify as the opposite sex are legally of that sex, I have a horrible feeling that the definition of women in the Equality Act is about to be challenged to include all males who have the legal fiction of being "female".

@XDownwiththissortofthingX

Do you recommend 'slightly less dodgy sites' while running for public office? We really should expect better of those who wish to govern us.

I don't see anything in the link you posted that recommends any sites at all, merely someone suggesting that if you are going to purchase on the internet, then it's likely to be worth your while to ask the advice of someone with first-hand experience of having done so themselves, lest you be ripped off.

Seems an eminently sensible suggestion to me, and I can only assume it's offered in good faith by someone with concern for others at the heart of it.

I just quoted the post 🤷‍♀️

But why would someone vote for a party when they don’t agree with their raison d’etre?

One of the reasons the SNP do so well is that there is no Labour party worth voting for. If it appeared that they might be making inroads I'm sure their stance would change.

I emailed the Alba party about a week ago asking for their views on trans-rights. As of yet they haven't replied.

I emailed the Alba party about a week ago asking for their views on trans-rights. As of yet they haven't replied.

I would imagine they would uphold all the rights bestowed by the Equality Act to transgender people.
The right to be treated with dignity and respect and not to be discriminated against because of their gender identity and the right to be treated as their preferred gender identity ,unless they are female and wish to inherit a title or take up a position within a religion which is only held by a male person, and if male no access to female only spaces where the needs of the females within those spaces would be compromised by the presence of a male bodied person.

Not at all.

As I said the separatist parties and their candidates and policies are as demented and illogical at local level as at national level. It's got nothing to do with indy rereferundum - it's about not wanting incompetents driven by an idiotic ideology having any say in anything.

@XDownwiththissortofthingX

I'm curious as to why a constitutional matter is your top priority in a local council election?

Its my top priority in every election

@XDownwiththissortofthingX

That still doesn't alter the fact that local councils and the make-up thereof are totally irrelevant when it comes to the question of whether there is another Indi referendum or not, so making that your top priority in a council election is nonsensical

Firstly, the SNP use every single election to claim a 'swelling mandate' for indyref 2.

Secondly, political parties build their base at a local level. Lots of nationalist councillors will be the bedrock of their campaign in a future referendum. Just as lots of unionist councillors will underpin the next No campaign. I would therefore prefer to build the numbers of unionist councillors.

Thirdly, SNP councillors in particular tend to be pretty extreme in their nationalist views and I find that repugnant.

You might think these reasons are nonsense but I don't agree.

Independence is driven by ideology - those driving it do not care about the impact on people so long as there is independence. It also produces a need to be 'different from England' regardless of whether it is correct. Hence keeping schools closed longer for covid, wearing masks longer for covid. And for gender refusing to listen to EHRC, or Cass and driving through gender ideology regardless of harm.

Yes. And just look at the state Glasgow is in and ask yourself if an SNP council is a good thing. Total shambles