Supreme Court winners FWS write to Lib Dems
For Women Scotland, the successful appellants in the landmark FWS vs The Scottish Ministers Supreme Court ruling on the meaning of sex in the Equality Act, have written to the LibDems regarding their handling of the positive action quotas in the triennial Federal Elections.
Anyone following recent events in the internal affairs of the Lib Dems will be aware of an ongoing controversy.
Some background: on the eve of ballots being issued for, the returning officer issued a statement setting out how the relevant clauses in the Constitution would be interpreted by him in order to deliver an election that was compatible with the Equality Act. He also issued guidance to accompany the interpretation.
Since then there has been intense internal and external commentary. The LGBT+ wing of the party launched a campaign urging candidates to retract consent for the party to use data about their “assigned gender at birth”, to avoid possible “misgendering”. Both presidential candidates made statements declaring an intention to try to have the RO’s decision overturned, including by means of a special emergency conference which could have removed all the quotas, including those for ethnic minorities and candidates with disabilities. It is rumoured that this plan was quickly abandoned due to a lack of support from some at the top of the party.
We commend the intention behind the Returning Officer’s attempt to conduct a lawful election, and believe the solution he has reached in terms of the rules themselves, while still imperfect, is something of an improvement on the previous version. We do however regret that the guidance accompanying the rewritten clauses in the Constitution contains serious flaws.
We drew this issue to the attention of For Women Scotland, who in turn sent a letter to the Chief Executive and the Returning Officer.
The letter can be viewed here. Anyone trying to make sense of current debates will find it a clear and helpful read.
Image credit in banner: Iain Masterton / Alamy Image