The SNP MSP who spearheads scrutiny of civil justice at the Scottish parliament has been condemned for blocking some of the country’s most senior advocates on social media.
Roddy Dunlop KC, dean of the faculty of advocates, said it was “surprising and disappointing” to find that Joe FitzPatrick had blocked him on Twitter.
Dunlop said: “Apparently the convener of the committee that considers equalities, human rights and civil justice matters, including debt, evictions and family law would prefer not to know what I think. Rampant hubris on my part, of course, but I remain flabbergasted.”
Joanna Cherry KC, an SNP MP and former justice spokeswoman, is also blocked despite leading parallel scrutiny of equalities law at Westminster as chairwoman of the joint committee on human rights. She said: “It must be a mistake. I’m blocked too and we’re in the same party.”
Both Dunlop and Cherry were outspoken critics of the Gender Recognition Reform (Scotland) Bill, which will make it easier for people to change gender legally if it gains royal assent. FitzPatrick’s committee led scrutiny of the bill at Holyrood.
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Cherry’s committee is likely to take evidence on the bill if Westminster takes the unprecedented step of blocking the Holyrood legislation.
The UK government is scrutinising the bill’s provisions and has indicated it may withhold royal assent if it is deemed to pose a risk to women and children in contravention of the UK Equalities Act.
FitzPatrick was a vocal supporter of the bill at Holyrood. He is gay and also sits on Holyrood’s cross-party group on LGBT matters.
Speaking during the marathon final debate on the bill before Christmas, FitzPatrick said he hoped the bill would make Scotland “a little bit kinder”.
Trans people told his committee that they found the gender recognition process “traumatising” and said it meant they could not marry or be buried in their chosen gender.
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FitzPatrick said: “The idea of not being able to marry as yourself or — oh my God — the pain of thinking about being buried as someone else. How could we not want to fix that, so that people can live their lives and be themselves at the happiest times such as marriage and at the saddest times?”
Scott Wortley, a lecturer in commercial law at Edinburgh University, described FitzPatrick’s exclusion as “pathetic”. He tweeted: “At a time when people are legitimately commenting on the quality of scrutiny in Holyrood the idea that the chair of the committee on civil justice blocks the dean of faculty on Twitter does not assuage concerns.”
Duncan Hothersall, editor of Labour Hame, defended FitzPatrick and said he had come close to blocking Dunlop after his “inflammatory rhetoric” on gender recognition.
Dunlop denied his words were inflammatory and insisted he had legitimate concerns about the SNP’s decision to vote down amendments that would have prevented people charged with sexual offences from switching gender while awaiting trial.
The government inserted safeguards that will prevent those deemed a high risk from legally switching gender, regardless of whether they had been charged or convicted.
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FitzPatrick was contacted for comment.
