A report yesterday attributed this position to the Leader of Scottish Labour, on the Gender Recognition Reform (Scotland) Bill: Mr Sarwar earlier suggested to journalists that the Section 35 order from the UK Government – which blocked the Bill from…
Read More The Gender Recognition Reform (Scotland) Bill: where now?
On Wednesday 22 February, the Scottish Parliament's Criminal Justice Committee will take evidence from the Cabinet Secretary for Justice Keith Brown MSP and the Chief Executive of the Scottish Prison Service Teresa Medhurst. In anticipation of that session, we have…
Read More Briefing note on SPS Gender Identity and Gender Reassignment Policy
The SPS urgent case review is not drafted for clarity. Careful reading shows that the SPS still believe that there are some male prisoners whose sex should not automatically be treated as a relevant factor, when assessing their risk to…
Read More MBM statement on the Scottish Prison Service urgent case review
"One of the first times I spoke in public on women's rights was in June 2019, on this subject - what was happening in prisons in Scotland. I said then "I’ll start by making a general point, which is that…
In December 2022, the Scottish Parliament's Finance and Public Administration Committee launched an inquiry into effective decision-making by the Scottish Government. More detail on the inquiry can be found here. Our submission to the Committee is shown below. 1. What…
In the end, the only risk the SPS seems to be concerned about, was the risk to themselves. A guest blog by Dr Alessandra Asteriti Dr Alessandra Asteriti has an LLM and a PhD in international law from the University…
Women and the Scottish Parliament: what the Gender Recognition Reform Bill taught us So first of all thank you for inviting me to speak on behalf of the three of us who make up MurrayBlackburnMackenzie. Before I do anything else,…
Read More Lucy Hunter Blackburn: Speech to Forth Valley Feminists’ Women’s Festival, 4 February 2023
