Julia Hartley Brewer's furious row on gender reform

The UK Government is not seeking to veto Scottish Parliament legislation “whenever it chooses” by moving against controversial reforms of the gender recognition process passed by Holyrood, Alister Jack has said.

The Scottish Secretary said the Gender Recognition Reform (Scotland) Bill would have “serious adverse effects” on the operation of UK-wide equalities legislation.

Giving a statement to MPs on the Government’s decision to use Section 35 of the Scotland Act to prevent the Bill from gaining royal assent – the first time such powers have been used since Holyrood was established in 1999 – Mr Jack said “very senior legal opinion” is that using the mechanism is “appropriate”.

Scotland’s First Minister, Nicola Sturgeon, has already branded the move a “full-frontal attack on our democratically-elected Scottish Parliament and its ability to make its own decisions on devolved matters”.