We know that the vast majority of Scottish people are against the SNP’s gender reforms, which Humza Yousaf is now taking the UK Government to court over.
Everyone seems to be opposed to these reckless plans, which would damage women’s rights and risk women’s safety. Everyone, that is, except the SNP, the Greens…and Scottish Labour.
Anas Sarwar’s party is sticking by the SNP’s dangerous Gender Recognition Reform (GRR) Bill. He voted for it in the Scottish Parliament at every single stage and it seems that he still supports it today.
Mr Sarwar still won’t come out against the SNP’s bill, even when the UK Labour leader, Keir Starmer, has signalled that the party got it wrong and u-turned on his original position.
Mr Starmer now appears to have finally realised that the public is not onboard with radical gender ideology that would see young people able to switch gender with barely any checks to protect them, and women’s rights
But Scottish Labour has still not woken up to the reality. Mr Sarwar has been silent on the issue for months, hiding away from scrutiny and refusing to come clean about where his party stands on gender reform.
When the GRR Bill came to the Scottish Parliament, Labour supported it through the whole process. They barely raised a single objection. They cowered and refused to challenge the SNP.
Anas Sarwar shamefully ignored the legitimate concerns of women’s groups, many Labour members and the vast majority of Scots by forcing his MSPs to back Nicola Sturgeon’s reckless GRR Bill. He whipped them to vote for it, even when it was clear that the public was against these plans.
He should now follow the UK Labour leader and perform a U-turn. He should apologise for voting for the SNP’s GRR Bill in the first place. He should admit he was wrong to ignore concerns about women’s rights.
But I doubt that he will. Labour are still trying to sit on the fence when it comes to the big decisions. They don’t have the stomach to take on the SNP. When it’s time to take a stand, Anas Sarwar has only shown weakness.
The only party you can trust to stand up to the SNP when it really matters is the Scottish Conservatives. I’m proud to hold the government to account alongside my party colleagues.
