Meeting of the Parliament 20 December 2022
I raise a point of order under standing orders rule 9.10, which says that members of the Parliament are allowed to speak in support of amendments that they lodge. Last night, after 10 o’clock, my colleagues Russell Findlay, Labour member Jackie Baillie and Scottish National Party member Michelle Thomson were sent a letter that asked them to withdraw their amendments to the bill at the 11th hour. The amendments in question all aim to provide protections for women’s rights. In particular, my colleague Russell Findlay’s proposal would introduce a crucial safeguard to prevent convicted sex offenders from changing their legal gender in order to potentially access vulnerable women’s and girls’ spaces. I consider that amendment to be one of the most important that we will hear today, but, instead of publicly debating that much-needed proposal, the SNP Government has attempted to shut down debate and silence colleagues from around the chamber.
Presiding Officer, do you agree that that was a blatant attempt by the Scottish Government to prevent MSPs from speaking in favour of their amendments and to avoid the scrutiny of the public and members of the Parliament? Do you also agree that, if the Scottish Government is opposed to amendments that have been lodged, it should set out its arguments openly and frankly in the chamber instead of using back channels to try to have them withdrawn?