Politicians respond to the SC judgement

[ArabellaScott]

A thread to gather politicians' responses to yesterday's Supreme Court judgement.

1. Stella Creasy. She's rather unhelpfully posted a pdf, (and turned off replies), so archive below.

https://archive.ph/8T1Yl

https://x.com/stellacreasy/status/1912609872430133697

Graham Stuart
(Beverley and Holderness) (Con)

I thank the Minister for her statement and her emphasis on the need for sensitivity and indeed good temper in dealing with this topic. In that spirit, may I ask her to salute the courage of J. K. Rowling, Sharron Davies and indeed the hon. Member for Canterbury (Rosie Duffield)?

Bridget Phillipson

Over many decades, fantastic women have campaigned for the protection and creation of single-sex spaces, have fought against violence against women and girls, and have led some brilliant campaigns. I pay tribute to all those women—many of them are unsung heroes whose names we will never hear anywhere and will never be mentioned in the Chamber—for their fantastic campaigning efforts. It is only because of the amazing work of feminists from the 1970s onwards that we have rape crisis centres and women’s refuges.

Tracy Gilbert
(Edinburgh North and Leith) (Lab)

I welcome the Minister’s statement and put on record my thanks to For Women Scotland for its tireless work over a number of years. It was the public face of many women who have experienced discrimination, abuse and personal loss for making the argument that the Supreme Court made last Wednesday. The Supreme Court held up the rights of lesbians to be able to associate with same-sex attracted women. What steps is my right hon. Friend taking to ensure that lesbians and gay men can associate without facing challenge?

Bridget Phillipson

The Supreme Court ruling makes that clear and provides the clarity that many, including lesbians and gay men, have been asking for. The EHRC statutory code of practice will provide further clarity. But I agree with my hon. Friend that no one should have faced abuse, intimidation or harassment for expressing their legitimately held opinions.

Thanks for this, @ArabellaScott

Those women running services who desparately wanted to ensure that traumatised women had access an were constructively dismissed and had their reputation dragged through court? What about them? Are they just forgotten??!

Will the Minister be more specific on when she will issue guidance to schools about gender-questioning children?

Bridget Phillipson

As I have said on a number of occasions in the House, we will issue that guidance this year.

Final answer from BP:

'...the rights we are talking about were hard fought and hard won, and there was significant push-back over many periods. My hon. Friend will doubtless have had the same experience as I did: commissioners suggested that mixed-sex accommodation was appropriate when, in many cases, we were talking about vulnerable young women who had been exposed to sexual violence, including sexual abuse in the home, and what they wanted and needed was single-sex accommodation. It is important that we ensure that appropriate services are available for anyone who needs them. That means that, on occasion, trans people will also require separate provision, so that their needs—their healthcare needs, their support needs, and their needs in cases where they may face abuse and intimidation—can be properly met.'

I should probably have said, I missed out BPhilipson's opening speech, and Kemi Badenoch's response. They're at the top of Hansard, fairly lengthy, and probably worth a read for context.

'This year'

In the meantime every school in the country who is dealing with parents and children and managing their liabilities in exposure to being taken to court for discrimination / harms done.

NOT GOOD ENOUGH.

They've know this was coming for months. They should have been prepared for all scenarios - this wasn't that hard to anticipate.

Another question on the Education guidance here:

Neil O’Brien
(Harborough, Oadby and Wigston) (Con)

The Minister says that her position on these issues is very clear and has not changed at all over the years. She is promising to work at pace now, yet nine months into her time as Education Secretary the guidance on gender-questioning children that was consulted on over a year ago has still not been published. Will she help schools by answering this question: can it ever be right for a school to socially transition a child without talking to the parents first?

Bridget Phillipson

We will set out guidance this year for gender-questioning children. It is important, because... I recognise the importance of providing clarity to school leaders. We inherited a draft version, and it was important that we looked at it and engaged with stakeholders following the final Cass review. But yes, I do agree that it is important that parents are involved in important decisions about their children’s lives. Alongside that, potential safeguarding considerations will always need to be taken into account. That is why we are looking at these areas very carefully to make sure that we get it right and we provide the clarity that schools leaders are quite rightly asking for.

'Clarity' is going to get worn out. Can I suggest 'honesty' as an alternative?

You might finally stop Labour from talking about it or much at all.

this is brilliant. Solid, unarguable logic.

FFS are they STILL pretending that humans aren't capable of recognising the sex of other humans?

Thanks, Arabella for your dogged hard work, reproducing all of those exchanges!

They’re also incapable of realising this is 1% of the issue as a whole. The entire ideology needs bringing down. We can’t just bring down 5% or 50% of it; as the rest will continue to grow and demand.

I read through the Hansard entry yesterday. So much virtue signalling from MPs who are either deliberately obtuse or are too stupid to be allowed out the house on their own.

I have NRTFT but gas Lisa Nandy commented yet?

Can anyone who is on X look and see if Gregory Stafford MP has commented about the Supreme Court judgment?

Ditto Owen Jones? He’s not a politician but am not on Twitter and he’s been extremely vocal about this issue so would be interested to see what his response is (probably a mantrum). Yes, it’s for my own gratification…

Nothing from Gregory Stafford. Owen Jones posting his usual misogynistic bull crap

Agreed, thank you. It’s v important we track who has said what and hold people to account.

Thank you.

Just some OJ examples

Thanks, exactly what I expected. I feel like they’re all focussed on the toilet issue to deflect the more crucial issues around sex offenders, puberty blockers, sports, scientific untruths and feminism in general.

During Brexit David Allen Green made the point that the words 'Clear' and 'Clearly' were very much weasel words.

Every time someone uses them, you raise an eyebrow and double check the wisdom of whoever is saying them.

It's a good rule of thumb.

https://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/politics/starmer-trans-ruling-supreme-court-nec-b2737904.html

Labour NEC member Jess Barnard criticising Starmer.