Scottish Labour lined up behind the SNP’s bungled attempt to reform the Gender Recognition Act last year and in doing so the party set itself firmly against the majority of voters. Around two-thirds of Scots are opposed to the SNP’s gender bill, but Labour chose to ignore their views and back the nationalists’ controversial legislation instead.
When Scottish Secretary Alister Jack intervened to block reform of the gender bill by Holyrood — on the grounds that changing the law in Scotland would negatively impact on the UK-wide equality act — the Labour party found itself unable to cash in. While the Scottish Tories loudly proclaimed their support for the majority view on self-ID, Labour MSPs preferred not to discuss it at all.
‘Anyone who dared speak critically about self-ID was being smeared as a bigot, so Anas took the easy decision to back the reform. He did this out of loyalty to the party and now he’s been thrown under the bus.’
But if Scottish Labour leader Anas Sarwar and his team thought this controversial issue would simply blow over, they were sorely mistaken. The UK Labour party has this week loudly changed its position on self-ID, cutting colleagues in Scotland adrift. Writing in the Guardian, shadow secretary of state for women and equalities Anneliese Dodds announced that the party is no longer in favour of self-identification. While Labour is committed to reforming the gender bill, it will crucially not scrap the need for someone applying for a gender resignation certificate to obtain a medical diagnosis of gender dysphoria.
Unsurprisingly, this change of tune has upset a number of members of the party in Scotland. MSPs Paul O’Kane and Monica Lennon have, alongside former Scottish Labour leader Richard Leonard, all expressed disappointment at the u-turn. Those Scottish Labour politicians who remain committed to self-ID see the party’s new position as a humiliating climbdown. Those who have never been in favour of self-ID think the new stance is too little, too late.
One gender critical Labour MSP said: ‘The Labour group at Holyrood is horribly divided on this subject but it was made absolutely clear to us that we were expected to support the reform of the GRA, so people bit their tongues and voted. We did this even though all the polls — and lots of our constituents — were telling us that self-ID was massively unpopular. Now our colleagues in London have realised it’s a bad policy, we look like idiots.’
And Sarwar was not, party insiders say, fully engaged with the issue when he whipped his MSPs to back the SNP. Another source said: ‘It seemed pretty obvious that Anas just wanted this whole thing to go away. Anyone who dared speak critically about self-ID was being smeared as a bigot, so he took the easy decision to back the reform. He did this out of loyalty to the UK party and now he’s been thrown under the bus.’
Sir Keir Starmer seems to be making a habit of upsetting his colleagues in Edinburgh. Last week, he announced it was no longer his party’s intention to overturn the Tories two-child benefit cap, a policy that Sarwar has labelled ‘heinous’. Labour MSP Mercedes Villalba argued that Starmer had been elected on a pledge to get rid of the limit while her colleague Pam Duncan-Glancy has called the policy ‘horrific’. While Starmer may have been pitching to small ‘c’ conservative voters who hold fears that a Labour government would be reckless with the public purse, he has also managed to hand ammunition to the SNP, which has already introduced a weekly child payment for poorer Scottish families.
A Scottish Labour insider said: ‘Starmer either didn’t think of the implications for us, or he didn’t care but whatever his thinking, the upshot is that the Nats have spent the past week attacking us for supporting Tory austerity. It’s a pretty miserable place to be.’
The SNP will legally challenge the block on the proposed gender bill reforms when MSPs return to the Scottish Parliament in September after summer recess, and some Scottish Labour MSPs would like Sarwar to row in behind Starmer on the subject before then.
‘We made a political mistake backing the SNP’s legislation,’ one says. ‘No matter how embarrassing it might be, we need to be where the voters are on this. Starmer has clearly realised that voters are deeply sceptical about self-ID. We should be sending the same signal from Scotland.
‘Regardless of where you stand on the GRA, the smart political position is opposition. We’re in the wrong place because Starmer used to be in the wrong place. Now he’s come to his senses, Anas needs to make clear that concerns about self-ID are legitimate. We can try to make life easier for trans people without turning our backs on voters who think self-ID is dangerous.’
Will these issues be the first of many cracks in Labour’s shiny exterior? Certainly Sarwar seems to face problems either way he turns: he can stand up to the policy changes made by his Westminster counterparts, highlighting divisions in the party — or he can back down to Starmer, and risk being labelled a weak leader. What seems certain is that this will not be the last area of contention to cause a north-south split in his party…
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