“Not fit for purpose”: ALBA hit out at Yousaf claim that misogyny law will protect “trans women and ‘cis’ women"

ALBA Party have said that a new misogyny Bill will not be fit for purpose if it treats women secondary to trans women.

Their comments come after First Minister Humza Yousaf gave an interview on BBC Good Morning Scotland in which he confirmed a new Misogyny Bill brought forward by the Scottish Government will also provide protection to trans women.

In the same interview, Mr Yousaf referred to women as “cis women.”

The Scottish Government’s Hate Crime Law did not include protections for women because Yousaf claims that when he was Justice Secretary he was lobbied by some organisations to create a stand-alone piece of legislation to protect women.

The Hate Crime and Public Order Act already provides protection against so-called trans aggravated hate crimes.

Alba Party Chair Tasmina Ahmed Sheikh has now condemned the comments of the First Minister with Alba Party saying that any new legislation that is supposed to protect women but will relegate women to a subcategory of “cis women” is unacceptable and will not be fit for purpose.

Commenting Alba Party Chair Tasmina Ahmed Sheikh said:

"Misogyny is rooted in biological sex. After being promised that there would be a specific law to protect women from misogyny it would be completely unacceptable for the Government to now try to introduce their discredited Gender Self ID policy into the new law which could end up with the majority of police time being spent investigating misogyny against biological males.

"Despite the controversial Hate Crime law already resulting in thousands of vexatious complaints about alleged Trans Hate crime, a new law that is supposed to provide additional protections for women looks like it could be hijacked by the radical trans movement already. Humza Yousaf’s comments are tone-deaf to the concerns raised by women across Scotland. Women have rightly raised concerns over their safety, privacy and dignity in recent times. Stating that a new misogyny law is intended to protect “trans women and ‘cis’ women” is outrageous and worthy of an immediate apology. The Scottish Government must backtrack and rule out that they will attempt to again introduce their self-ID policy by stealth.”