Philip Sim

BBC Scotland political journalist & occasional courtroom live-tweeter. ✍️:@BBCScotlandNews,📻:@bbcpodlitical, largely spreadsheets & snark on here

[Philip Sim @BBCPhilipSim]

ScotGov appears to have kicked council tax reform into the 2030s…after Ivan McKee said on the radio that there was “absolutely a need” for a revaluation, govt says it’s not happening and any big reform will need an electoral mandate (in 2031, after five more years of debate)

[Philip Sim @BBCPhilipSim]

@AYearWithJurgen It's an odd one, in that it's previously been a strong Lib Dem area, but equally Labour were within a couple of hundred votes of taking it in 99 and 03. They were both miles off the pace 2021, Lib Dems only got 6% of the vote.

[Philip Sim @BBCPhilipSim]

Fergus, Winnie, Margaret and Annabelle Ewing have clocked up a combined 102 years of elected politics in Holyrood, Westminster and the European Parliament. But in 2026, a Ewing will stand *against* the SNP at the polls. Going to be a fascinating contest... https://t.co/A9AU1tQfzq

[Philip Sim @BBCPhilipSim]

The bookies were offering longer odds on Labour winning Hamilton, Larkhall and Stonehouse (11/1) than they were on Aberdeen winning the Scottish Cup final against Celtic (8/1)...

[Philip Sim @BBCPhilipSim]

@Scott_Wortley @MrsNickyClark Not sure I can actually reproduce the contents of this brief given it led to a criminal case, having included calls for the Queen and the judges to be executed…I did enjoy Lord Turnbull questioning the “tactical wisdom” of trying to win over the court with death threats

[Philip Sim @BBCPhilipSim]

@Scott_Wortley I still have the USB stick of miracles in my desk drawer. The contents can probably be summed up as this gif, but x5

[Philip Sim @BBCPhilipSim]

ScotGov has used a parly question the morning after the local elections down south to announce that it isn't going ahead with its long-promised misogyny bill this term, but will instead add sex protections to the hate crime act. Conversion practices ban also kicked to next term

[Philip Sim @BBCPhilipSim]

@legalfeminist Yes, but my point is that there is still a bar - in order to exclude anyone, it has to be shown to be a proportionate means to achieving a legitimate aim. So it's still not a blanket ban across all spaces, services etc - the proportionality test still applies to each

[Philip Sim @BBCPhilipSim]

The champagne is out…Susan Smith says everybody should be protected by the Equality Act; this is not about hatred for any other community, but there need to be protections in the law based on biology

[Philip Sim @BBCPhilipSim]

Susan Smith and Marion Calder from For Women Scotland jubilant after their win in the Supreme Court; thanking their supporters across the country who backed and donated to the case; say there is an ongoing fight against some government policies and guidance

[Philip Sim @BBCPhilipSim]

Lord Hodge says the predecessors to the Equality Act used definitions of biological sex; gender reassignment was added as a separate protected characteristic. Says after “painstaking analysis”, including people with a GRC in the sex group would make EA read in an “incoherent way”

[Philip Sim @BBCPhilipSim]

Supreme Court ruling on For Women Scotland vs Scottish ministers; Lord Hodge reading verdict. He says court is aware of strength of feeling from both sides, but court’s role is to decide what the law means - what is a woman, when it comes to the Equality Act?

[Philip Sim @BBCPhilipSim]

Lord Hodge says unanimous decision of court is that woman and sex in equality act refer to biological sex. He counsels not to see this as a triumph for one side over the other - stresses law still gives trans people protection against discrimination

[Presiding Officer @POScotParl]

I have today written to the Returning Officer @SouthLanCouncil to confirm the by-election for Hamilton, Larkhall and Stonehouse will be held on Thursday 5 June 2025.

Read the news release⬇️
https://t.co/AdALlGAQFa

[Philip Sim @BBCPhilipSim]

@andrewlearmonth I know everyone is dunking on the weird questions but that's actually quite interesting, why are there markedly fewer south of Dundee? Works out as like 30-odd per mile on those stretches of the road compared to 170-odd per mile overall.

[Philip Sim @BBCPhilipSim]

@Scott_Wortley perhaps I am a dreadful cynic, but it chiefly feels like it beats having to speak in full sentences about awkward subjects...

[Philip Sim @BBCPhilipSim]

I'm like a broken record on this, but there is absolutely no reason why the government cannot comment on a *civil* case. There's no jury, no risk of prejudice, they've already thrown a kitchen sink full of arguments at the court and there'd be no harm in reiterating them publicly

[Lewis McKenzie @LewisMcKenzie94]

Asked for a response on this, a Scottish Government spokesperson said: “The Scottish Government cannot comment on live litigation."

[Philip Sim @BBCPhilipSim]

@Scott_Wortley Standing orders would only apply to statements made in parliament, though? And there's also precedent that the courts can cheerfully ignore those - I'm thinking of the fracking "ban" being dismissed in court as a "political gloss"...