Mick Hartley

Scottish guidance to the 2022 census is for trans people to follow their supposed gender identity: "If you are transgender the answer you give can be different from what is on your birth certificate. You do not need a Gender Recognition Certificate (GRC)." Which is nice and trans-friendly – but also very probably illegal, as well as driving a coach and horses through any attempt to collate meaningful sex-based statistics. Fair Play for Women are launching a judicial review:

The Scottish Government must go to court to defend its decision to change the meaning of “sex” in the Scottish Census.

Women’s campaign group, Fair Play For Women, has served a petition for judicial review of the official guidance that will accompany the question “What is your sex” in the 2022 Census.

The same battle has already been fought and won by Fair Play for Women in England and Wales:

Earlier this year, the Administrative Division of the High Court of England & Wales issued a declaration in the matter of Fair Play For Women v UK Statistics Authority and the Minister for the Cabinet Office that the “what is your sex” definition “means sex as recorded on a birth certificate or Gender Recognition Certificate”.

National Records for Scotland has claimed that this interim conclusion only applies to the England and Wales Census and is not binding in Scotland.

However, as Dr Nicola Williams, Director of Fair Play For Women, highlights:

"There are huge differences between males and females in the UK, in critical areas such as crime statistics. That’s why accurate recording of sex matters. The High Court in England backed our position and we are confident that the Scottish court will see it the same way.

"The ONS wasted over a hundred thousand of pounds of tax payers money in a desperate attempt to defend their unlawful position in court. It is beyond belief that the Scottish Government is now repeating this reckless act and forcing ordinary members of the public to go to court once again."