Windsor Framework can no longer be 'Trojan Horse on gender ideology and definition of a woman' after legacy ruling - Robinson
The Windsor Framework can no longer be stretched wider than it was meant to go – such as into “gender ideology and the definition of a woman”, DUP leader Gavin Robinson has said.
Reacting to Hilary Benn’s statement that parts of the post-Brexit deal’s human rights and equalities provisions “had been interpreted too broadly” by courts, unionists today welcomed the Secretary of State’s position that those elements only apply to Troubles legacy issues.
Arguing some activists have seen the Windsor Framework as “a constitutional Trojan Horse to reshape public policy in Northern Ireland through the courts rather than democratic consent”, Mr Robinson described the Secretary of State’s declaration as “a significant moment”.
“In recent years, the Human Rights and Equality commissions and other legal activists have repeatedly advanced expansive interpretations in areas including gender ideology and the definition of a woman,” he said. “Common sense was increasingly treated as something to be challenged rather than defended.
“This judgment provides important legal clarity and should mark the end of attempts to endlessly expand [the framework] into areas far removed from its intended purpose.”
The TUV’s legacy spokesman, Sammy Morrison, said the news was welcome even though his party still has concerns about the government’s proposals to tackle legacy issues in general.
Suggesting activists and equalities bodies had been “cutting Northern Ireland further adrift from the rest of the UK” using the framework, he said arguments that its legacy principles should be applied to the province’s constitution as a whole have now been “shot down”.
He went on to maintain it is “morally outrageous and legally unsustainable” for campaigns seeking to “deny the rights of women in Northern Ireland to single sex spaces” to go on.
Mr Benn’s statement came after a group of families who lost loved ones in the Troubles (Dillon and others) argued a legacy act undermined victims’ rights as protected by the Windsor Framework.
The framework states the government must ensure various rights and entitlements in Northern Ireland, enshrined by the Good Friday Agreement, cannot be diminished.
Northern Ireland’s High Court and Court of Appeal had both previously found that parts of the act were incompatible with human rights and undermined the rights of victims in breach of the Windsor Framework.
Feeling the framework’s equalities protections had been applied “too broadly”, the Northern Ireland Office appealed the case. Last week, the Supreme Court ruled in the government’s favour.
Mr Benn spoke on the issue in Westminster today, setting out the government’s position on the Supreme Court judgement.