Welsh Government postpones Bill to Include ‘men who identify as women’ in planned increase of ‘women’ MS’s

Further to our reports on the Welsh Government’s intention to include men who identify as women in their planned increase of women Senedd members it has been confirmed that the Bill has been postponed.

Hannah Blythyn, the Deputy Minister for Social Partnership, was due to announce details of the updated version of the Bill in the Senedd on Tuesday December 5. Journalists were due to receive a technical briefing about what is known as the Senedd Cymru (Electoral Candidate Lists) Bill on the morning of November 30.

That briefing was postponed on November 29, with a brief statement that said: “We’re still working on the Senedd Cymru (Electoral Candidate Lists) Bill, but we won’t be publishing it on December 4 as anticipated.”

No details have been released as to why but there is speculation that the Welsh Government lacks the legal powers to push the bill through.

There have been objections to the bill  from several women’s groups.

The bill has support from both Senedd members and MPs, including women and lesbians.

Here in Carmarthenshire Llanelli’s MP Dame Nia Griffith is a member of the All Party Parliament Group (APPG) for Global LGBT Rights and supports the position that men who identify as women, are actual women.  She spoke against the clarification of the word sex in law to mean biological sex at a recent debate in Parliament following on from a petition by the human rights group Sex-Matters.

The MP attended a small Winter Pride event in the village of Llandyfaelog and declined an interview on the issue with our reporter.

The MP did not attend the Welsh Labour Women’s Conference, which  was being held in Cardiff on the same day.

Protesters gathered outside the building hosting the conference with some attempting to speak to delegates as they entered the building.

Our reporter Tessa Finch spoke with Cathy Larkman, of the WRN (Women’s Rights Network) Wales, ahead of the news of the postponement of the bill.  Listen to the interview here: