Scottish charities and civic groups that criticised the Westminster government’s decision to block Holyrood’s gender recognition laws receive millions in funding from the SNP-led administration.
Fourteen groups signed a statement expressing “strong opposition” to Alister Jack, the secretary of state for Scotland, after he issued a Section 35 order preventing the passage of the Gender Recognition Reform (Scotland) Bill. The Conservative government in London claims that it is at odds with the 2010 Equality Act. The criticism of Jack was published as Nicola Sturgeon condemned the Conservatives for a “direct attack on the institution of Scottish parliament” and of trying to “stoke a culture war”.
Analysis by The Times shows that 12 of the 14 organisations, most of them charities, which supported the first minister’s stance were funded in whole, or in part, by the Scottish government, or receive grants for special projects. These included some advocating for women, including Rape Crisis Scotland, Zero Tolerance Scotland and Scottish Women’s Aid.
The funding arrangements raise questions about their “political impartiality”, an academic said. Lindsay Paterson, professor emeritus of education policy at Edinburgh University, said: “The argument has been allowed to become political, and so the political bias of organisations making comments is highly relevant. Since devolution, Scottish civic organisations have been gradually captured by successive Scottish governments.”
He added that such groups “receive money from government and are intimately involved in preparing draft legislation. Their political impartiality is thus dubious. Whatever the merits of the gender debate, that general situation is very unhealthy for Scottish democracy.”
Mick Hartley 
Leave a comment