Gender Recognition Reform: Women’s groups call for clarity following Nicola Sturgeon comments

‘WOMEN ARE STILL WATCHING’

Statement on our letter of 22 December to Nicola Sturgeon MSP.

The text of the letter can be read here:

22 December 2024

Dear Ms Sturgeon

We are groups based in Scotland concerned about threats to women’s rights, as protected in domestic and international law. This time two years ago, many of us were sitting in the public gallery of the Scottish Parliament as MSPs voted for the Gender Recognition Reform (Scotland) Bill.

In the run up to this, we engaged extensively and seriously with the government’s proposals to move to a system of self-declaration for gender recognition. We submitted detailed written evidence to the Scottish Government consultation. We also provided written and/or oral evidence to the parliamentary committee tasked with scrutinising the bill at Stage One.

Most of us wrote to and met with our MSPs in the months and years before the bill was introduced, and encouraged and assisted other women to do so. We undertook detailed work and analysis on the government’s proposals, highlighting the risks to women and girls. We organised meetings, street stalls and rallies with hundreds of other Scottish women, or attended those. In fact, this issue attracted some of the largest rallies that have ever been seen outside the Scottish Parliament in 25 years of devolution. Our campaigning efforts were widely covered in the Scottish press.

It was clear that getting the bill passed was a personal priority for you.

We watched as you dismissed concerns raised by women like us as ‘not valid’, comparing objectors to your proposals to racists and homophobes.

In the last week, you are reported to have said:

There are people who have muscled their way into that debate no doubt because they are transphobic but also because they want to push back rights generally.” (Diva, 16 December 2024)

There were forces that muscled into that debate who, I think, you know, had a bigger agenda in terms of rights more generally.” (The Guardian, 16 December 2024)

You are not the first politician to make such a claim. However, your prominence as Scotland’s longest serving first minister, and its first female first minister, mean that your comments carry weight. You have also intimated that you intend to write about this episode in your forthcoming autobiography.

If you believe that there are groups or individuals with an agenda to ‘push back rights generally’ who are ‘muscling in’ on Scottish politics, you have a duty to state who or what you believe they are, and how you believe they are operating in Scotland, as precisely as possible. Then, the influence of any such groups or individuals can be properly investigated and challenged, as necessary.

As it stands, regardless of your intentions, a person might reasonably believe you are referring to those groups or individuals who played a leading part in criticising the Scottish Government’s proposals.

We therefore invite you to move away from dropping broad hints of potential wide application, and to take the more responsible step of making clear who you do, and do not, mean in the comments above, and to put the evidence on which your comments are based into the public domain without delay.

Yours,


For Women Scotland
MurrayBlackburnMackenzie
Scottish Feminist Network
Scottish Lesbians
Women’s Rights Network Scotland
Women Voting With Our Feet
Women Won’t Wheesht

@ForWomenScot

@Scot_Feminists

@ScotLesbians

@VoteWithOurFeet

@WRNScotland

@WWWheesht

Voluntary sector fears over National Insurance hike in Budget

Following reports of the UK Gov’s #Budget24 plans for increases to employer National Insurance contributions, SCVO wrote a joint letter with @NCVO @NICVA & @WCVAcymru to @RachelReevesMP about the potential impact this could have on the voluntary sector:

SCVO, NCVO, NICVA, and WcVA letter to Rachel Reeves, Chancellor of the Exchequer: Autumn Budget 2024 – employers’ National Insurance contributions

Dear Chancellor 

Autumn Budget 2024 – employers’ National Insurance contributions

We are writing to you on behalf of charities and community organisations across the UK, in relation to recent reports of plans to increases to employer National Insurance contributions and the potential impact this could have on the voluntary sector.   

If reports in the media are correct, National Insurance contributions are to be increased in the private sector. Public sector employers will be reimbursed for any such increase, to protect public services. But there has been no mention of the voluntary sector. This comes as a disappointment, given that our sector provides essential public services to people and communities up and down the country, delivering significant savings to the public purse.  

With costs climbing, funding falling, and demand for services increasing, our sector already faces a crisis. The additional costs placed on the sector by increasing employers’ National Insurance contributions will only compound this.  

As you navigate the significant financial challenges the country faces, we are confident that it would not be your intention to place them at the door of charities and community organisations. We are not asking for special treatment, just parity with the public sector.  

In the spirit of partnership – as outlined in the UK Government’s Covenant document which published last week – we are assuming this is an oversight or over-simplification by the media and we are therefore calling on you to urgently clarify this matter, confirming that no additional financial burden will be placed on our sector.

We look forward to receiving a response as a matter of urgency.

Yours sincerely

Anna Fowlie, Chief Executive, SCVO

Celine McStravick, Chief Executive, NICVA

Lindsay Cordery-Bruce, WCVA

Sarah Elliott, NCVO

https://buff.ly/4e9XWyu