Steerpike Steerpike

Terf war grips Scottish government

Andrew Milligan - WPA Pool/Getty Images

It is said in Westminster that Boris Johnson likes to surround his 5ft 6in Chancellor with tall ministers to make him feel small. And up at Holyrood, Nicola Sturgeon has clearly taken a leaf from the Prime Minister’s book, judging by the ministers with whom she surrounds herself. After suffering a reversal at last year’s elections, Sturgeon was forced to take the Scottish Greens into government: a marriage of political convenience but one that no doubt reaffirms Humza Yousaf’s faith in his own intellectual prowess.

For the Greens are led by a duumvirate of Lorna Slater and Patrick Harvie, a man diminutive both in size and in stature. The devolutionary double act serve as the comedic foil to Nicola Sturgeon’s straight man routine, making the First Minister loom like a titan over her administration of pygmies. Yet while the Greens undoubtedly have their uses for Dear Nicola, they do retain an irritating habit of saying the wrong thing at the worst possible moment. Sort of like the Chuckle Brothers, without the laughs, if you will.

In recent days, this has been the sensitive issue of transgender rights: one of the few fault lines liable to split the usually pliable band of Scottish nationalists. The Greens take a much keener stance on this issue than the SNP and are pushing for sweeping changes under the Gender Recognition Reform (Scotland) Bill. If passed, this legislation will reduce the time a transgender person has to live in their acquired gender from two years to three months, followed by a three-month reflection period. Opponents warn that self-identification could impact women’s rights – such as access to safe single-sex spaces like refuges, toilets and changing rooms.

Predictably this has sparked something a backlash in Holyrood, with even Sturgeon’s loyal finance minister Kate Forbes among those voicing concern.

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