December 23rd 2022.
Christmas is nearly upon us as the UK slowly slides further down the gurgler. It is hard to find a body in the public sector that isn’t suffering from a strike.
Ironically, border force staff at six airports have gone on strike, but incoming passengers seem to be clearing immigration quicker than before the strike. Perhaps this has something to do with military personnel running the operations at the airports.
The continuing rail strikes seem to be losing public support and there are thoughts that Mick Lynch the RMT union leader has overplayed his hand.
The GMB union has called off next Wednesday’s ambulance staff strike scheduled for next Wednesday. This has been postponed to January 11th, but the cancellation is an attempt to garner public support. The post-Christmas period is usually busy for the NHS and not providing emergency ambulance services would have been a PR disaster for the Union. It seems that Sunak’s government is determined to stick things out and play the long game. It will then deteriorate into accusations about who is responsible for the inevitable deaths that result from the strikes.
What is becoming clearer by the day is that Sunak has some major deficiencies as a Prime Minister (But then which of the last six UK Prime Ministers hasn’t?).
He is exceptionally competent in numbers and financial matters to the point of ignoring everything else except the figures. He is very much a black-and-white person and can’t see areas of grey or nuances that need to be taken into account. If not the cause of his downfall, this will be the cause of much difficulty in the future. He is totally lacking in political skills and finds it difficult to read the room or assess the public mood. Just because he produces accurate, quantitative assessments don’t mean that he can get policies accepted. He needs good special assistants and a decent PR team.
Meanwhile, in Scotland, Nicola Sturgeon is busy laying a trap for Sunak. The Scottish Parliament has just passed the Gender Recognition Bill. There were rumours of strong-arm tactics being used on her MPs to ensure that it passed into law. The women’s movements have been campaigning strongly against the bill and the public was vehemently against the bill.
The law now allows 16-year-olds to self-identify as whichever sex (gender?) they wish to be. The main problem with the bill (and lots of minor ones) is that people on the sex offenders register will be allowed to self-identify. This means that a convicted rapist could self-identify and then be allowed to enter women’s facilities – toilets, swimming pools women’s prisons. This amendment was passed by one vote – effectively Sturgeon’s. This has caused outrage amongst the feminist movements because virtue signalling has obviously overridden women’s safety. J.K. Rowling is vociferous in her rejection of the bill and is garnering a wide range of support.
What does the Bill do?
The Bill makes it easier for trans people to obtain a gender recognition certificate (GRC) by removing the requirement for a diagnosis of gender dysphoria. It also lowers the minimum age for applicants to 16 and drops the time required for an applicant to live in their acquired gender to three months, or six months for people aged 16 and 17 – although with a subsequent three-month reflection period.
How does this compare to UK-wide rules?
Current laws mean a person can apply for a gender recognition certificate only if they are aged 18 or over, have been diagnosed with gender dysphoria in the UK and have been living in their affirmed gender for at least two years. A person can apply even if they have not had any gender affirming surgery or treatments or do not plan to have any.
December 2022.
Daily Mail 23rd December 2022.
Now here’s the bear trap. The UK government could go with the vast majority of national opinion and use section 35 of the Scotland Act to refuse Royal assent. Sturgeon would then say this is typical of the UK’s colonial attitude towards Scotland and put new life into the independence debate.
It would appear that the Scottish bill is in conflict with the UK’s equality legislation of 2010. Equality is a reserved matter and where a law introduced in Scotland is in conflict with a reserved matter the UK government CAN request the monarch to refuse his assent.
Section 35 is designed to apply to Bills which are within the competence of the Scottish Parliament, but which nevertheless affect or modify the law relating to reserved matters so as to give rise to reasonable beliefs that there would be an adverse effect on the operation of the law relating to reserved matters. This means that the test for whether the law relating to a reserved matter has been modified must be more expansive than the test determining whether a Bill is outwith competence because it relates to a reserved matter.
Put another way, if the Equality Act is generally reserved because it related directly to the reserved matter of equal opportunities, then any Bill of the Scottish Parliament would be outwith competence if it attempted to modify or repeal provisions of the Equality Act. In contrast, the Gender Recognition Act is almost certainly devolved and so the Scottish Parliament will be acting within competence if it enacts legislation altering or modifying it. But, if altering the Gender Recognition Act has the effect of changing the law relating to the Equality Act, then it may ‘modify the law relating to a reserved matter’ without being outwith competence. In that instance, s.35(1)(b) provides the option for the Secretary of State to intervene, notwithstanding the fact that the Bill would be within competence.
UK Constitutional Law Association December 21 2022, Michael Foran.
This, if acted upon by the UK Government would probably trigger a judicial review.
It will be interesting to see how Sunak handles this, and what the PR spin will be.
Oh well, 2023 should be interesting. I am off to the town open-air carol service which cheers everyone and I wish both my readers a Merry Christmas.
I just managed to squeeze in pictures from a typical small town at Christmas. Some traditions such as the carol service are still being carried on, which is good to see, a nice piece of country life.
A wonderful evening. I am glad I could manage to share a little of it with you.