STEPHEN DAISLEY: Holyrood might be closer on the map than Westminster... but to ordinary voters, it feels so much more distant

By STEPHEN DAISLEY, SCOTTISH DAILY MAIL SKETCH WRITER Published: 19:34, 24 May 2026 | Updated: 19:43, 24 May 2026 So many facets of the state are chronically inept and unreliable, it figures that the one body doing its job properly is getting it in the neck. The Equality and Human Rights Commission (EHRC) is under fire for releasing its long-awaited guidance on the law around women’s sex-based services and accommodations. The framework is clear: women’s spaces are for women only, and that doesn’t include men who ‘self-identify’ as women. Put crudely, the ladies are over there, the gents over there, and if you don’t like either, there’s a unisex toilet in the middle. If it seems ludicrous that a 342-page report is needed to tell politicians, the public sector and private businesses that women are entitled to privacy and dignity when they pee, you need only glimpse at the reception for the document in some quarters. The Commission has been decried as transphobic, derided for misunderstanding science, and accused of putting trans people at risk of harassment or violence for going to the loo. What the Commission has actually done is defend the Equality Act from lobby groups that wish to ride roughshod over it. It has faithfully translated the Supreme Court decision over For Women Scotland – commonly known as the ‘What is a woman?’ case – into simple, understandable language for the benefit of employers and service providers. No more deliberate blurring of lines by people who should know better. No more pretending that men must be given access to female facilities. No more branding as bigotry the mere statement of biological fact. The Scottish Government at Holyrood has been dragging its feet on implementing the Supreme Court judgment on gender Nowhere is this message needed more urgently than at Holyrood, where the Scottish Government has been dragging its feet on implementing the Supreme Court judgment and the Scottish parliament has demonstrated itself unwilling to scrutinise ministers on this matter. The decision-makers have decided in favour of gender ideology and the rest of us had best get used to it. Hence the parliament’s decision to remove the function on its website that allowed members of the public to search MSPs by sex. Gone in an instant. Why? The best guess is to accommodate new Green MSPs Q Manivannan (a male who identifies as ‘non binary’) and Iris Duane (a male who identifies as a woman). Both members should, of course, be treated with respect and courtesy but hiding information from the public runs counter to democracy.  It also flies in the face of years of work to increase women’s representation, an effort that becomes more difficult when you’re not allowed to know how many women are there at the moment. Next up will be an all-out assault on the family in the form of a ‘conversion practices’ ban, something the SNP, Greens, Lib Dems and Labour promised in their manifestos. Between them, they more than have the votes to pass such a law. Do not be misled by the phrase ‘conversion practices’. Those pushing this legislation want to trick you into thinking of a vulnerable gay teenager sent off to a Christian conversion camp to ‘have the gay prayed away’. These places do exist, and as a number of exposés and criminal trials in the United States have revealed, what goes on inside them is monstrous and inimical to all but the most disturbed readings of the Gospels. No, what the Holyrood political class means when they talk about ‘conversion therapy’ is any attempt by a parent to protect their child from gender ideology. Telling them that genderism is a lie and a dangerous one at that. That they weren’t born in ‘the wrong body’ because there’s no such thing. That there is no right or wrong way to be a boy or a girl. That Mum and Dad love them exactly as they are and they don’t have to change their personality or their body to win anyone’s approval. This is what the ruling cadre wants to criminalise – loving, caring parents safeguarding their children’s welfare and refusing to sacrifice them to the latest ideological fad. Truth be told, it is the gender identity racket itself which is a conversion practice. As testimony from de-transitioners indicates, it is often gay and lesbian teenagers who fall prey to this cult, fearful of being different and longing to fit in. Keeping minors from self-hatred and self-harm is neither conversion nor coercion. It is responsible parenting. The gulf between Westminster and Holyrood is widening by the day Instead of choosing the path of rancour and division, the Scottish Government should take the opportunity afforded by the EHRC guidance to reorient.  Implement the Commission’s guidance in full in a way that delivers women’s rights to single-sex spaces and services while upholding the dignity of trans-identifying people and making all the lawful accommodations that can be made to minimise disruption to their lives. Drop the gender agenda and focus on the bread-and-butter issues that matter to the public – jobs, schools, hospitals, housing. The responsibilities which have been entrusted to parliamentarians at the ballot box. I propose nothing more radical than that MSPs get on with the job they were elected to do. There is no reason why they should listen to me. By all means, dash into another bout of bad legislating. That always works out well. Or at least it does for the KCs who have raked in the cash – our cash – while losing case after case before the courts. None of the constitutional arguments I could marshal against devolution is as powerful as the political case MSPs make against themselves: this is a parliament that refuses to attend to the concerns and priorities of the public. Want cancer patients seen on time, the attainment gap eliminated, ferries that survive contact with water, North Sea jobs saved, or support for businesses? Sorry, no can do. The Scottish parliament is a national legislature with almost no interest in the nation for which it is legislating. It is fascinated with itself, with the fads and neuroses of the elites, and of course with foreign affairs. But Scotland, with its chronic health inequalities, inflexible and inefficient public services, stubborn fiscal deficits, is too humdrum for MSPs. No one ever got retweeted by Jacinda Ardern for improving bus services in Inverness. This is, let’s not forget, a parliament built to address a ‘democratic deficit’ between Scottish votes and UK governments, but the democratic deficit in Scotland today is the gap between the whims and obsessions of the Central Belt establishment and the interests and ambitions of the electorate. Holyrood might be closer than Westminster on a map but it is every bit as distant. This comes with a price, even if MSPs can’t see it. The more the average voter is given the impression that Holyrood is not their parliament, but the parliament of people with lanyards and Glasgow University accents, the less they will look to it for leadership. If there is any hope of Holyrood repairing its self-inflicted injuries and rebuilding trust with the public, it will need to begin with a refreshing blast of honesty. Admit its error in embracing radical gender theory, implement the EHRC guidance in full, and work to become a parliament worthy of the name. The comments below have not been moderated. 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