I DON’T know if anyone else witnessed the behaviour in the Commons of Lloyd Russell-Moyle during the debate on the Gender Recognition Reform (Scotland) Bill Urgent Question.
I know there can be passionate debate, but the aggressive stance and pointing and shouting by some Labour MPs and some SNP MPs was outrageous.
All of this was bad enough, but when Lloyd Russell-Moyle crossed the floor of the House and sat on the Conservative benches very close to Miriam Cates and stared at her, this was I believe predatory and intimidating bullying of a colleague.
READ MORE: No 'compelling' argument that gender law impacts Equality Act, says Nicola Sturgeon
It seems some of the people with opposite views to the many women who want to retain single-sex places are not prepared to hear others' opinions or give them a chance to speak or give their opinion.
The fact that these MPs are elected to represent all of the constituents does not seem to occur to them.
I for one will not be party to the lies being told – that nothing has changed about single-sex spaces. Predatory men will always look for ways that will allow them to abuse, and to think they will not shows lack of knowledge of the way predatory men operate.
In order to think nothing changes you have to believe that a man can become woman or a woman a man – this is not biologically possible, and telling any person it is possible condemns them to a life of chemicals, operations and much suffering.
I do believe it is the Equality Act which needs clarifying – that a woman is clearly defined as a biological woman and a trans woman as a trans women and that all the safeguards women have fought for should be retained.
Winifred McCartney
Paisley
JOANNA Cherry may be correct in assessing that the Scottish Government’s GRR bill might well have faced legal challenge in an independent Scotland (Jan 20), but when Caroline Nokes MP, Conservative and Unionist Party chair of the Women and Equalities Committee at Westminster, passed the select committee’s recommendations for gender recognition reform to the UK Government in December 2021, those recommendations requesting urgent action were “broadly in line” (as she confirmed on the BBC’s Sunday with Laura Kuenssberg) with the GRR Bill. Yet the UK Government has so far chosen to ignore those recommendations, not out of any concern for women and children but entirely for political reasons.
READ MORE: Row erupts as SNP MPs appear near violent sign at Glasgow protest
At any time during the last six years, should the UK Government have been genuinely concerned either about the perceived impact on women and children or potential conflict with existing UK gender recognition legislation then it could have taken legal advice and relayed that to the Scottish Government. The fact that it chose neither to reform its own legislation nor advise any counter legal advice prior to the passing of the bill in Scotland confirms that Stephen Flynn MP was correct in assessing that we are now “on a slippery slope from devolution to direct rule” (as has already been brought about by unionists in Northern Ireland).
No doubt those who seek every opportunity to blame the First Minister and the SNP for all of Scotland’s woes will continue to illogically argue otherwise, but any objective analysis will confirm that it is the Prime Minister and the Tory UK Government that are attempting to politically exploit this relatively complex issue and detrimentally holding back more compassionate consideration of the wishes of probably the most marginalised minority in our society.
Stan Grodynski
Longniddry, East Lothian
AS always, Joanna Cherry is spot on with her latest column. The UK Government are mendacious, hypocritical and undemocratic, but one thing they’re not is stupid.
They’ve known all along which fight to pick, and this “trans” bill has given them the perfect opportunity to step in, knowing as they do that the bill has sparked huge disquiet among independence supporters. The perception among many is that trans community activists are a minority pushing the Scottish Government around.
Political correctness has always carried the possibility that the rights of a particular group will impinge on those of another group, and Joanna highlights this expertly.
READ MORE: Let’s try to be clear on what Tories think ‘good’ law means
I have yet to meet any rank-and-file independence stalwarts (as opposed to the politically motivated/pressure group with an agenda types) who are not dumbfounded at our government’s insistence on this hugely divisive bill.
Like many of your contributors on this subject, I fear that our cause will suffer at the next elections because of it. So needless, and such a gift to Unionists.
Jim Butchart
via email
I HAVE just two questions I would love to ask Kevin McKenna. One, if there is no-one and nothing in Scotland that he likes enough even to damn with faint praise, would he not be happier emigrating? Two, how on earth does he manage to raise his arms enough to type his regular whines and rants, with the weight of all those chips on his shoulders?
L McGregor
Falkirk
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