Supreme Court gender ruling drove up complaints over Scottish politicians, standards chief says

A rise in complaints to standards watchdogs was partially driven by the Supreme Court ruling on the meaning of ‘sex’, MSPs have heard.

Ian Bruce – who, as Scotland’s ethical standards commissioner, investigates complaints about the conduct of MSPs and councillors – said the response to the judgment in the case of For Women Scotland versus the Scottish Government had seen referrals spike.

And he said standards bodies are being “undermined” by public commentary spreading a “false narrative” about their work.

Judges determined that ‘sex’ in UK-wide equalities laws referred to biology, not preferred gender, in a ruling with implications for the provision of public services.

The result was criticised by those in favour of self-identification for transgender people but welcomed by opponents of that system.

Now MSPs have been told that the resulting debate saw an increase in complaints to Scottish standards bodies over online posts.

Giving evidence at the Scottish Parliament, Bruce said conflict in the Middle East had the same result.

He told MSPs: “In the aftermath of the Supreme Court judgment, people were saying things about each other online and that drove complaint numbers up.

“When it comes to discourtesy and disrespect, yes, online – quite a lot of it is generated there.”

Bruce said cases involving councillors rose by almost 70 per cent in the first half of the year, compared with the same period last year. They include claims of “discourtesy and disrespect” by councillors to each other, officials and members of the public.

He said one third or more of all complaints to his office result in investigation, with a breach of conduct rules found in just over one quarter of these cases.

Figures including Murdo Fraser MSP and Glasgow councillor Fiona Higgins, who is awaiting a hearing over a complaint about a social media post, have recently made statements through the media calling for reform of standards frameworks, with Fraser describing the current system as “not fit for purpose”.

Appearing before the Local Government, Housing and Planning Committee, Bruce said there was no evidence of conduct rules being “weaponised”, and that criticisms had been made by people with “a personal and vested interest in undermining the ethical standards framework”.

He said: “The system the Scottish Parliament has put in place to maintain good conduct in public life is more important than the vested interests of a handful of people who wish to publicly undermine the system.”

Bruce said just four per cent of complaints are made by officers, and that fewer than 40 per cent of complaints from members of the public in the first half of the year had been admissible, with these falling outwith the body’s purview and the code of conduct for elected members.

Asked by committee member Fulton MacGregor on whether a pattern of male councillors complaining about their female counterparts was emerging, Bruce said it was too early to reach a conclusion.

Susanne Vestri, convener of the Standards Commission for Scotland, said referrals from Bruce’s office to her organisation had risen and “challenging behaviour” from respondents and other service users is up over the past two years.

She said: “This is both disruptive and detrimental. It's had a significant impact on our small staff team, and has led, in part, to us providing resilience training to staff and members.

“We understand there's been media script coverage suggesting that the code is preventing effective scrutiny. We refute this entirely and note that it is entirely possible for councillors to scrutinise effectively without falling foul of the provisions in the code that concern courtesy, respect, bullying, harassment and relations with officers.”

More than £2m was spent between both watchdogs in 2024-25. Lorna Johnston, executive director of the Standards Commission for Scotland, said: “Standards and public life are incredibly important, especially at the moment.

“I think the public has a right to expect that councillors and members of public bodies will act in their best interest and act ethically, and that if they don't, then action will be taken.

“In England, for example, they are now, I think going to introduce a more centralised system again, because I think they realise from our experiences and the experiences in Wales and Northern Ireland that is actually quite essential to have one for that public confidence. We also think that the codes help protect councillors and members. It's not just a tool with which to attack them.”