SNP could welcome women who quit party after Sturgeon's gender reforms
SNP could welcome back scores of women who quit the party after Nicola Sturgeon’s controversial gender reforms would have allowed trans people to change gender without a medical diagnosis
- Thousands walked out of in protest at the controversial self-identification bill
- The legislation let trans people to change gender without a medical diagnosis
The SNP should welcome back the scores of women who quit the party in disgust at Nicola Sturgeon’s gender bill, senior figures said last night.
Thousands of members are thought to have walked out of the party in protest at the outgoing First Minister’s controversial self-identification bill.
The legislation, which was blocked by Westminster last month, allowed trans people to change gender without a medical diagnosis.
Nicola Sturgeon provoked fury among members over the plans, which deepened over her handling of the Isla Bryson scandal.
The male-born double rapist, who began transitioning to a woman after being charged, spent days in a female prison before Ms Sturgeon had her moved to a male prison.
The SNP should welcome back the scores of women who quit the party in disgust at Nicola Sturgeon’s (pictured) gender bill, senior figures said last night
Ms Sturgeon provoked fury among members over the plans, which deepened over her handling of the Isla Bryson (pictured) scandal
Yesterday senior women in the SNP said members who had left the party in the last two years should be able to rejoin to vote in the leadership election.
MSP Ash Regan, who resigned as a minister over the gender reforms, said the special conference to discuss the path towards an independence vote should be postponed, and members who quit should be allowed back.
‘The SNP special conference should now be postponed whilst a leadership contest will also be ongoing,’ she wrote on Twitter.
‘I also call for all those members who have left the party over the last year to be able to rejoin over the next month and be allowed to participate in the leadership election.’
SNP MP Joanna Cherry endorsed the call.
She said: ‘Many women left the party in exasperation as their rights were thrown under the bus.
‘Others left in despair over the independence strategy. We need these people back. There should be a moratorium on all resignations over the last two years.’
She added that SNP members suspended from the party ‘without due process’ or because of complaints of ‘transphobia’ based on a definition which is not compliant with equality laws ‘must be reinstated or the leadership result could be challenged’.
MSP Ash Regan, who resigned as a minister over the gender reforms, said the special conference to discuss the path towards an independence vote should be postponed
SNP MP Joanna Cherry said: ‘Many women left the party in exasperation as their rights were thrown under the bus’
Ms Sturgeon insisted on Wednesday that the row over her gender reforms was not the ‘final straw’ that led to her resignation – despite it deepening divisions.
She acknowledged the ‘choppy waters’ but said she was not standing down in response to the ‘latest period of pressure’.
Asked whether the gender identification row was the ‘straw that broke the camel’s back’, she replied: ‘No, that issue wasn’t the final straw.
‘I’m long enough in the tooth, I’ve been in politics a long, long time. I’m not going to stand here and insult your intelligence and say that I live in a world that is divorced from the reality of what is going on around me.
‘But it is not the case that this decision is because of short-term issues. I’ve faced more short-term issues from time to time in my years in politics than I care to remember. And if it was just that, I wouldn’t be standing here today.’
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