Scotland Act 1998: Section 35 Power

Mark Jenkinson Excerpts

Tuesday 17th January 2023 Commons Chamber

[Mr Jack]

No, we are not. The Minister for Women and Equalities has provided a written ministerial statement on that. There are changes, which include 16 to 18-year-olds self-identifying without any medical diagnosis. But most importantly, in the legal advice that I have—this will be in the statement of reasons, but it is very detailed, so I do not want to bore everyone to death with it now—there is an adverse effect on two pieces of UK-wide legislation, and that is the reason why section 35 is deemed appropriate.

[Mark Jenkinson (Workington) (Con)]

I thank my right hon. Friend for standing firm on the facts against the noise. Does he agree that, rather than manufacturing constitutional battles, the SNP would do better focusing its energies on fixing the failures across Scotland, not least in health and education?

[Mr Jack]

Again, I do not want to bore everyone with a long list, but we could add ferries and many other things to that list.