Women's rights 'not safe' as John Swinney refuses to rule out gender reforms

[IwantToRetire]

The rights of women in Scotland under John Swinney will not be safe, according to the Scottish Tories after the likely next first minister refused to rule out bringing back controversial gender reforms. The soon-to-be SNP leader was also called out for saying he wanted to see more "respectful dialogue" in relation to the debate.

asked by Trevor Phillips on Sky News on Sunday if he would put gender reforms on ice, he merely said there were "issues I've got to consider" and he would look at "the best steps to take us forward".

Central to the debate has been the claim that transwomen as women, a question Mr Swinney refused to answer when he launched his leadership bid on Thursday.

the Scottish Greens tried to discredit the Cass report into transgender healthcare which has led to a pause in the prescribing of puberty blockers in Scotland.

Mr Swinney may need to placate the Greens if he wants to be elected first minister at Holyrood, raising the possibility the legislation could return in some form. He told Sky News: "There are issues I've got to consider about gender reform.

https://www.scottishdailyexpress.co.uk/news/scottish-news/womens-rights-not-safe-john-32739402

I suspect part of the point of this article is to let the Tories create a bit of a stir, but not reassured by response.

I’ve always been mystified by the versions of PR that get chosen or proposed in GB. Northern Ireland also uses STV for non-Westminster elections. Now, I’m not claiming we somehow get a much better calibre of politicians in our parliament, that claim wouldn’t stand up to scrutiny 😬, but I think there seems to be a greater link between MLAs and their constituents than the other devolved administrations in GB.

In Ireland, North and South, all politics is effectively local politics and people expect their TD, MP or MLA to be available to help them with issues or to listen to them. The expectation was stronger when I was younger and parties are trying to weaken it but when the parties try to ignore the voters for long enough they get results like the recent referendum in ROI. They get smacht put on them 👍

The main dysfunction we have in NI political life is dealing with the legacy of The Troubles and sectarian politics.

It's not just this issue it's a whole myriad of fuck ups and cover ups
The corruption knows no bounds they are no better than their southern counterparts.

That video was illuminating. And infuriating. What a smug and patronising response using endless weasel words with a not so subtle subtext of ‘we know better than you’ so shut up.

But the image of the banana dipped in Nutella. Was that for real? Shown to students? Never underestimate the stupidity of people in positions of authority. But if so. Oh. My. God. The world is such a mess with adults doing their damnest to screw up children. In particular, young girls.

Slightly off topic but relevant - is there a possibility that with the SNP in the state it is in, that in the coming UK General Election Scottish Labour will do really well and give Starmer a bigger majority overall?

It won't have a huge impact. Scotland only returns 59 MPs. Currently 43 SNP, 7 Tories, 2 Labour.

There will be more Labour MPs post election, yes. Perhaps around 20-30 more than currently.

https://members.parliament.uk/region/country/Scotland

https://www.electoralcalculus.co.uk/scotland.html

Perhaps around 20-30 more than currently.

That's quite a few. So if Labour in England has a few set backs for various reasons, it means that 20 could be significant.

But presumably Scottish Labour is not obliged to follow English Labour.