The United Kingdom government has decided to block a controversial Scottish Bill that has been designed to facilitate an easier process for people to change their legal gender, reported BBC. This is the first time that a Scottish law has been blocked for affecting UK-wide law.
The UK minister said that the draft law would conflict with equality protections applying across Great Britain.
Reacting to the move by the UK, Scotland’s first minister Nicola Sturgeon called it a “full-frontal attack” on the Scottish Parliament and added that the move will be opposed.
She said the Scottish ministers would "defend" the bill, warning if the veto succeeded it would be the "first of many".
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Potentially through a judicial review, the Scottish government is expected to challenge the ruling, but is awaiting more details from UK ministers.
Nicola Sturgeon's government believes the current process is too difficult and invasive, and causes distress to an already marginalised and vulnerable minority group.
As per the BBC report, the UK government’s Scottish secretary Alister Jack will take the legal steps on Tuesday to confirm the move, and set out the reason for it in a statement to the House of Commons.
In a letter to Ms Sturgeon, he said the bill would have a "significant impact" on protections contained in UK equalities legislation.
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He cited concerns over its effect on legal rights to run single-sex clubs, associations and schools, as well as rules on equal pay for men and women.
He added that having "two different gender recognition schemes in the UK" risked creating "significant complications," including "allowing more fraudulent or bad faith applications".
The announcement met the fury of Scottish Social Justice Secretary Shona Robinson who called the decision to block the bill as “outrageous”.