Latest news with #HolyroodSources
Daily Record
2 days ago
- Politics
- Daily Record
Ex-Labour councillor who defected to Reform distances himself from 'racist' Anas Sarwar advert
Jamie McGuire - who joined Nigel Farage's party last week - told the Holyrood Sources podcast he would have focussed the advert on the economy instead. A Reform councillor who defected from Scottish Labour has distanced himself from a "racist" ad his party put out about Anas Sarwar. Jamie McGuire - who joined Nigel Farage's party last week - told the Holyrood Sources podcast he would have focussed the advert on the economy instead. He said the Hamilton, Larkhall and Stonehouse by-election "went nasty" and that he would rather focus on policies. Reform released an online attack advert about Scottish Labour leader Sarwar during the campaign, claiming he wanted to "prioritise" the Pakistani community. Farage also accused him of having "introduced sectarianism into Scottish politics." Sarwar hit back, calling the advert racist. When asked about the ad, McGuire said: "I want to do politics more in a civil way and I think that politics has become toxic on all sides and I think that's what puts people off getting involved." He added: "On language, I think on all sides, in politics, everyone can do better. I really do. "Because if we want to get more people involved, more young people, more women and other people as well, then I think what you need to do is you need to have an environment where people feel they can speak and they're not going to get all this hatred. "Unfortunately during that by-election on all sides, people felt like it, at times, went nasty. And I would much rather, in politics, we focus more on the policies." When asked if he thought the ad was wrong, McGuire said: "If I was doing an ad, I would have focused on the economy because it's something I'm passionate about. "It's something I feel is the most important issue at this moment in time." The post included an image of Sarwar next to the words: "Anas Sarwar has said he will prioritise the Pakistani community." It then cut to a video of the Glasgow MSP telling an audience in 2022: 'The days where South Asian political communities get to lead political parties and get to lead countries is now upon is.' But Sarwar did not say he would 'prioritise' the Pakistani community. At a press conference, the Reform UK leader played a clip of the advert and tried to blame Sarwar: "So it was Anas Sarwar that introduced sectarianism into Scottish politics. Making it perfectly clear his priority was to a certain section of the community.' Sarwar branded the advert 'blatantly racist'.
Telegraph
21-02-2025
- Politics
- Telegraph
Trade union allies attack Scottish Labour leader for ‘betrayal' over gender self-ID law
Scotland's largest trade union group has criticised the Scottish Labour leader for his admission that his MSPs were wrong to support Nicola Sturgeon's self-ID gender laws. The Scottish Trades Union Congress (STUC) accused Anas Sarwar of a 'betrayal' of the country's LGBTQ+ community and warned that his about-turn 'inflicts hurt on some of our most vulnerable in society'. It accused Mr Sarwar of having 'amplified a national and international onslaught against those who seek nothing more than recognition and equality'. The extraordinary split between Scottish Labour and its trade union allies emerged at the start of the party conference in Glasgow. Earlier this week, Mr Sarwar said that 'knowing what we know now' his party would not have voted for Ms Sturgeon's Gender Recognition Reform Bill at Holyrood. He expressed 'deep regret' that his MSPs had backed the legislation without the party insisting on amendments as a condition of their support. The Bill would have allowed Scots to change their legal gender by signing a statutory declaration, dropping the requirement for a formal medical diagnosis. After it was passed at Holyrood, Rishi Sunak's government vetoed the legislation over concerns that it undermined UK-wide women's rights, including the sanctity of safe spaces. At the time, Mr Sarwar spoke against the UK's decision to block the Bill as he argued it was necessary 'to remove inhumanities' in the process of obtaining a gender recognition certificate. In a post on social media, the STUC said: 'We condemn Scottish Labour's U-turn on gender recognition reform. This betrayal of Scotland's LGBT+ community inflicts hurt on some of our most vulnerable in society. 'Rather than stand alongside us, Scottish Labour have amplified a national and international onslaught against those who seek nothing more than recognition and equality. 'Our Labour movement is built on respect, tolerance and solidarity for those in struggle. The Labour leadership would do well to embody those principles.' Concerns 'arrogantly' ignored His about-turn came in the wake of a landmark employment tribunal in Scotland regarding the right of trans people to access female-only areas. Nurse Sandie Peggie was accused by NHS Fife of misconduct by challenging the presence of Dr Beth Upton, who was born male but identifies as a woman, in female facilities at Victoria Hospital, Kirkcaldy. Dame Jackie Baillie, deputy leader of Scottish Labour, told the Holyrood Sources podcast that she 'absolutely' supported Ms Peggie in her legal battle. She insisted her party had 'consistently said that we would protect single sex spaces... based on biological sex, and NHS Fife didn't do that'. However, the Tories accused Mr Sarwar and Dame Jackie of a 'desperate' about-turn and of 'arrogantly' refusing to listen to the concerns of women's rights groups when the legislation was going through Holyrood.
Telegraph
18-02-2025
- Health
- Telegraph
Scottish Labour admit they should not have backed SNP trans self-ID
The Scottish Labour leader has admitted that his MSPs should not have supported Nicola Sturgeon's self-ID gender laws. Anas Sarwar has been accused of performing a 'desperate' about-turn after saying that his party would not have voted for Ms Sturgeon's Gender Recognition Bill in the Scottish Parliament 'knowing what we know now'. He told the Holyrood Sources podcast that he had 'deep regret' that Labour had not insisted on amendments being made to the legislation as a condition of his MSPs backing it. The Bill would have allowed Scots to change their legal gender by simply signing a statutory declaration, dropping the requirement for a formal medical diagnosis. After it was overwhelmingly passed at Holyrood, Rishi Sunak's government stepped in to veto the legislation over concerns that it undermined UK-wide women's rights, including the sanctity of safe spaces. But Mr Sarwar criticised the UK Government's decision to block the Bill at the time, arguing that it was 'it was right to remove inhumanities' in the process for trans people to obtain a gender recognition certificate. His about-turn came in the wake of a landmark employment tribunal in Scotland about the right of trans people to access female-only areas. Sandie Peggie, a nurse, was accused by NHS Fife of misconduct for challenging the presence of Dr Beth Upton, who was born male but identifies as a woman, in female facilities at Victoria Hospital, Kirkcaldy. Dame Jackie Baillie, Scottish Labour's deputy leader, told the podcast that she 'absolutely' supported Ms Peggie in her legal battle. She insisted that her party had 'consistently said that we would protect single-sex spaces... based on biological sex, and NHS Fife didn't do that'. Rachael Hamilton, the Scottish Conservative deputy leader, said: 'This is desperate stuff from Anas Sarwar and Scottish Labour. 'Women and girls, including those in their own party, repeatedly warned them that Nicola Sturgeon's gender self-ID law would not protect their safety or access to single-sex spaces, but they arrogantly refused to listen. 'Anas Sarwar even went as far as whipping his MSPs to allow Sturgeon to railroad through her plans, which were thankfully blocked by the previous UK Conservative government from ultimately becoming law.' She added: 'This attempt at backpedalling simply won't wash with the public who will still question why Anas Sarwar and his MSPs were not on the right side of history when it really mattered.' Murray Blackburn Mackenzie, a policy analysis group that led criticism of the self-ID laws, welcomed Mr Sarwar's about-turn but said Labour 'needs to understand the urgency of reversing the institutional capture that has led to cases such as that of Sandie Peggie.' 'Face value' Speaking ahead of this weekend's Scottish Labour conference in Glasgow, Mr Sarwar said: 'I think, looking back, the deep regret that we have is that actually we didn't push harder on the amendments that we had as conditions for supporting the Bill. 'And we took at face value the Scottish Government when they, on the record, said that nothing in the legislation would negatively interact with the Equality Act, that they would respect single-sex spaces based on biological sex.' Despite the Bill being blocked, Mr Sarwar admitted that self-ID was still being implemented in parts of Scotland's public sector thanks to 'an element of organisational capture and I think there is a bit of overreach from government.' Single-sex spaces Challenged that the 'organisational capture' had been caused by the 'signal' sent by the Scottish Parliament supporting the self-ID legislation, Mr Sarwar insisted that his party 'will support single-sex spaces based on biological sex'. The Scottish Labour leader said it was a legal requirement to protect such spaces under the Equality Act and accused SNP ministers of failing to take 'meaningful action' to enforce this. Mr Sarwar said: 'Knowing what we know now, we would not have supported the Bill.' Sir Keir Starmer initially pledged to introduce a similar system to Ms Sturgeon's but, in 2023, declared that a woman is an 'adult female' and that he did not believe that the self-ID policy was 'the right way forward'. He said that Labour had had the 'chance to reflect' on what happened in Scotland. Last year's UK Labour general election manifesto pledged to simplify the process for changing legal gender but retained the requirement for a medical diagnosis. However, the Scottish party manifesto deleted the need for a medical diagnosis and merely promised to 'modernise, simplify and reform' the procedure.
