Nicola Sturgeon defends gender reform plans after critical UN letter

Violent men “do not need” to legally change their gender to access women-only spaces, the First Minister has said, as she defended the Gender Recognition Reform Bill.

A Tory MSP called for the passage of the bill to be paused in light of a letter from a UN expert.

Earlier this week, the UN’s special rapporteur on violence against women and girls, Reem Alsalem, called for a “thorough assessment of all foreseeable consequences” of the bill.

Alsalem said the proposals “would potentially open the door for violent males who identify as men to abuse the process of acquiring a gender certificate”.

Pam Gosal raised the matter at FMQs, asking: “Does she [the FM] agree with this United Nations expert that this bill should be postponed so that these legitimate concerns about women’s safety can be addressed?”

But Sturgeon said: “Violent men right now who want to access women-only spaces do not need a gender recognition certificate to do that.”

She added the social justice secretary would “respond in full” to the letter, but said: “Many of these issues have been discussed and addressed already by this parliament during stages one and two.”