Month: April 2024

All political parties in South Sudan should take “urgent steps” to allow for long-delayed elections to be held late this year, UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres wrote in a report published Wednesday.

South Sudan has not held an election since it gained independence from Sudan in 2011, and the nation is plagued by chronic violence, poverty and natural disasters.

“It is my view that the parties must commit to take urgent steps to achieve a ‘critical mass’ of implementation necessary for a peaceful conduct of free, fair and credible elections,” Guterres wrote in the report.

Plans for elections have been hobbled by relentless feuding between President Salva Kiir and his arch-nemesis, Vice President Riek Machar.

Forces loyal to the two rivals fought a bloody civil war between 2013 and 2018 that left around 400,000 people dead and millions displaced.

A peace deal was agreed in 2018 that laid out a “transition” period to pave the way for general elections.

International observers remain skeptical that the new timeline culminating in December elections will be maintained, as Kiir and Machar have yet to reach a consensus on staging the elections, or even which offices would be up for grabs.

After an assessment of the situation, the UN Mission in South Sudan (UNMISS) concluded that “stakeholders remained in urgent need of technical, legal and operational expertise and assistance for elections to be conducted in December 2024 or after,” Guterres wrote.

“Essential election tasks and preconditions continued to remain behind schedule,” he added, noting that holding national, state and local elections on the same day “would be challenging.”

The country’s national elections commission announced last week that voter registration would begin in June.

But Guterres noted the delays in not only registration but a national census, the writing of a national constitution and ways of repatriating the displaced.

“South Sudanese leaders have also acknowledged that the widespread subnational violence poses challenges to the conduct of elections,” he wrote.

In March, the UN Security Council only extended the mandate of UN peacekeepers in South Sudan by a month, and was awaiting the publication of this report to reassess that mandate. A vote on the issue is expected later this month.

The Security Council vote on the Palestinians’ bid to become a full member state of the United Nations is expected to occur Thursday or Friday, diplomats said, as discussions continued.

Several diplomatic sources had told AFP earlier that the vote would take place on Thursday, but the situation has since changed with some member states asking for a Friday vote.

No firm decision had been taken as of late Wednesday, according to several diplomatic sources.

“It’s still in the air,” Slovenian Ambassador to the UN Samuel Zbogar told journalists.

“The vote is tomorrow at 3:00 o’clock. I’m sure. If you don’t believe me, you will see it tomorrow,” said Palestinian envoy Riyad Mansour.

Malta’s diplomatic mission, which holds the presidency of the Security Council in April, has yet to confirm a schedule.

Whatever the date, the Palestinian initiative appears doomed to fail due to opposition from the United States.

The Palestinians, who have had observer status at the world body since 2012, have lobbied for years to gain full membership, which would amount to recognition of Palestinian statehood.

Any request to become a UN member state must first pass through the Security Council — where Israel’s ally the United States wields a veto — and then be endorsed by the General Assembly.

In light of Israel’s offensive in Gaza following Hamas’s unprecedented October 7 attack, Palestinians revived a 2011 UN membership application last week, prompting the Security Council to launch a formal review process.

Israel reserves ‘right to protect itself’

Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said his country reserved the right to protect itself after Iran’s unprecedented attack, and that it alone would decide how to do so.

Iran launched more than 300 drones and missiles at Israel over the weekend in an attack that caused little damage after most of the projectiles were intercepted.

The Israeli military has vowed to respond, prompting a diplomatic flurry aimed at calming the Middle East.

Israel’s allies in Washington and Brussels have pledged to ramp up sanctions against Iran, while British Foreign Secretary David Cameron and his German counterpart Annalena Baerbock became the first Western envoys to visit Israel since the attack.

Netanyahu told the visiting ministers that Israel “will reserve the right to protect itself,” his office said.

The pair offered “all kinds of suggestions and advice” during a meeting, Netanyahu said. “However, I would also like to clarify: we will make our decisions ourselves.”

For his part, Cameron said “we’re very anxious to avoid escalation and to say to our friends in Israel: It’s a time to think with head as well as heart.”

Baerbock emphasised that “the region must not slide into a situation whose outcome is completely unpredictable.”

Tehran has vowed to hit back if its arch-foe Israel responds to the Saturday attack, which itself was launched after a deadly strike on Iran’s Damascus consulate building earlier this month that was widely blamed on Israel.

Citing three unnamed Israeli sources, ABC News reported on Thursday that “Israel prepared for and then aborted retaliatory strikes against Iran on at least two nights this past week.”

Among the range of possible reactions considered by the Israeli war cabinet were options to attack Iranian proxies elsewhere in the region or to conduct a cyberattack, the sources told ABC.

Meanwhile, the war in Gaza that has sent regional tensions soaring continued unabated with efforts at a truce appearing to flounder, as key mediator Qatar said it was re-evaluating its role in the stalling negotiations.

– Iran sanctions push –

Iran’s President Ebrahim Raisi warned after the attack of “a fierce and severe response” to any retaliation, and on Wednesday his country celebrated its annual Army Day with a parade featuring various attack drones and long-range missiles.

Also on Wednesday, Tehran-backed Hezbollah wounded 14 soldiers, six seriously, in a strike on northern Israel, the Israeli army said.

This was the third day in a row the Lebanese militant group had wounded people in Israel, amid near-daily cross-border fire since the start of the Israel-Hamas war.

Later, Israel hit targets in eastern Lebanon, far from the border, a Hezbollah source told AFP.

Israel’s top ally the United States has made clear it won’t join any attack on Iran, vowing instead to level more sanctions against the country’s missile and drone programme, its Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps and the Iranian defence ministry.

Nevertheless, on Wednesday US Republicans unveiled a bill that would provide $26 billion of military aid to Israel which appeared to have White House backing.

EU foreign policy chief Josep Borrell said Brussels was also working to expand sanctions against Iran, including its supply of drones and other weapons to Russia and to proxy groups around the Middle East.

French President Emmanuel Macron said the EU and its allies had a “duty… to expand these sanctions”, while Baerbock said Berlin backed further sanctions.

Cameron also urged the G7 to adopt new “coordinated sanctions against Iran,” ahead of a meeting with counterparts from the Western-led grouping in Italy.

– Deadly strikes in Gaza –

The Israel-Iran tensions have threatened to overshadow the Gaza war, even as deadly bombardment and combat raged in the besieged territory.

Talks toward a truce and hostage release deal have stalled, said Qatari Prime Minister Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al-Thani, despite months of effort also involving US and Egyptian officials.

He later said that his country was undertaking “a complete re-evaluation of its role because there has been damage to Qatar”, which does not have diplomatic relations with Israel.

The Israeli military said Wednesday its aircraft had “struck over 40 terror targets throughout the Gaza Strip” over the past day.

When one strike hit the southernmost city of Rafah, where 1.5 million Palestinians are sheltering, Jamalat Ramidan said she “woke up to the sounds of girls shouting ‘mama, mama, mama’.”

As she fled the carnage alongside the children, they stumbled over “body parts and corpses scattered all over the place,” Ramidan told AFP.

The war was triggered by an unprecedented attack on Israel by Hamas on October 7 that resulted in the deaths of 1,170 people, mostly civilians, according to an AFP tally based on Israeli official figures.

The militants also took about 250 hostages, of whom Israel estimates 129 remain in Gaza, including 34 who are presumed dead.

Israel’s devastating retaliatory offensive has killed at least 33,899 people in Gaza, mostly women and children, according to the health ministry in the Hamas-run territory.

– Aid sent by sea –

Israel has faced growing global opposition to the relentless fighting in Gaza, which the United Nations and aid agencies have warned has pushed the north of the territory to the brink of famine.

But Netanyahu rejected any claims about famine on Wednesday, saying Israel is doing “above and beyond” what is needed “on the humanitarian issue,” his office said.

The Israeli army said that eight trucks of food aid from the World Food Programme that arrived via Ashdod port in Israel had entered Gaza through an Israeli land crossing.

It is the first time UN aid has travelled through the sea port since Israel said it would open it earlier this month following international pressure.

Meanwhile, the UN Security Council was preparing to vote Thursday on an Algeria-drafted resolution for full United Nations membership for a Palestinian state, diplomatic sources said.

However, the veto-wielding United States has repeatedly expressed opposition to the move.

NEW DELHI: India begins its crucial national elections on Friday amid hopes and fears for its troubled democracy.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi, the most right-wing leader to head the country, is hoping to win a third consecutive term, the first time since Jawaharlal Nehru, while his rejuvenated rivals say he could lose.

Mr Modi says he is confident of getting more than 400 seats in the 18th Lok Sabha, a brute majority of in the 545-seat lower house, a feat achieved only once by Rajiv Gandhi.

The Bharatiya Janata Party hopes to increase its tally from 303 to 370, the rest coming from other members of the ruling National Democratic Alliance (NDA). It is widely feared that Mr Modi would seek to use the majority to change the constitution to align with his idea of Hindu Rashtra.

Opposition sees an opening for itself in PM’s northern stronghold; Modi says he is confident of getting more than 400 seats in Lok Sabha

Mr Modi’s hitherto fractious rivals comprising regional parties plus the Congress, recently cobbled the India National Development Inclusive Alliance (INDIA) bloc. They are pitching for the removal of the NDA from power for its “whimsical policies, narcissistic hegemony, communal avowal as well as violence against the minorities and the fear factor against any dissent”.

Ground reports say there is no Modi wave evident in any part of the country, but these are early days. The biggest chunk of seats will be in the fray on Friday, covering 102 races in 21 states. The remaining six phases of the polls, including the last leg on June 1, will make these the longest elections in memory. Security is cited as the reason, and it would involve the deployment of 3.4 lakh paramilitary forces in rotation.

West Bengal, where the Bharatiya Janata Party is hoping to expand from the 18 of 42 seats it won last time, would see polls in all seven phases. A maximum of 92,000 security personnel are likely to be deployed there.

The BJP had just two seats in the state in 2014.

The NDA is banking largely on the so-called Modi magic together with the Ram Mandir and the abrogation of Article 370 in Jammu and Kashmir. Every BJP leader is reinforcing Hindutva, which otherises the Muslims. The BJP’s manifesto is personalised as ‘Modi ki Guarantee’, with the programmes of a decade-long rule listed. The Congress’s promise of ten forms of justice has fresh appeal: “We promise you greater freedom, faster growth, more equitable development and justice for all.”

The rub however is in the numbers. Mr Modi’s 39 per cent votes got him 55 per cent seats in 2019. In so doing, he obviously won by dividing the 61 per cent votes cast for non-BJP parties.

The opposition sees in this a chance, which requires it to unite where it matters. The question is where would Mr Modi find the extra 67 opposition seats while not losing any of his to account for the BJP’s goal of hitting 370 without allies.

The opposition sees an opening for itself in Mr Modi’s northern stronghold. Much has changed since 2019 when he won all seven seats in Delhi, all 10 in Haryana, all 25 in Rajasthan, 25 of 48 in Maharashtra, 27 of 29 in Madhya Pradesh, all 26 in Gujarat, 62 of 80 in Uttar Pradesh, 22 of 40 in Bihar, all five in Uttarakhand and all four in Himachal Pradesh.

That adds up to 213 seats for the BJP from the northern stronghold. Elsewhere, the BJP picked up 25 out of 28 in Karnataka, eight of 21 in Odisha and four from 17 in Telangana. The BJP won two seats from 25 in Andhra Pradesh. It’s saturated in the north and in the absence of a divisive issue clicking, the chances are it could only go down from there.

In Karnataka, Telangana and Himachal Pradesh the Congress has taken power since the last elections. The BJP might improve its tally in Andhra Pradesh where it has cobbled an alliance with the Telugu Desam. Wild guesses have been made, however. Rahul Gandhi says the Modi alliance could be restricted to 180, nearly a hundred short of a majority.

Shiv Sena’s Uadhav Thackeray on whose strength the BJP won handsomely in Maharashtra feels, not without a tinge of bitterness that the BJP would get just 45 seats. And the Trinamool Congress of West Bengal says it would get twice the number of seats than the BJP in the state, which should worry Mr Modi’s supporters.

After the Muzaffarnagar communal polarisation of 2014 and Pulwama-Balakot nationalist fervour fuelled his campaign in 2019, the Modi souffle has so far failed to rise again.

But he is the instigator of a smoking plan with substantial, cross-party political support, which looks set to herald a sizeable social change.

And that cross-party support suggests it’s an idea with greater political longevity than he might have, because Labour wouldn’t scrap it if they win the election.

In other words, whatever happens, it is what some in politics call a legacy.

As I wrote here when Mr Sunak first set out his plans last autumn – in what he described at the time as “the biggest public health intervention in a generation” – this is a government seeking to nudge, or elbow, a societal shift along: the near end of smoking.

On Tuesday, Health Secretary Victoria Atkins said she hopes creating a smoke free generation will “spare thousands of young people from addiction and early death as well as saving billions of pounds for our NHS”.

What was once mainstream is already marginal. Now the attempt to near-eradicate it, over time.

This isn’t the end of this discussion: what we have seen so far are the early parliamentary stages. There is more to come before it becomes law.

So that is the big picture, potential social change stuff. What about the politics?

Nearly 60 Conservative MPs voted against Mr Sunak’s idea.

Yes, they had a free vote – they weren’t told how to vote – but they defied him nonetheless. The cabinet minister Kemi Badenoch among them.

Another 100-ish abstained. The cabinet minister Penny Mordaunt among them.

A source close to Ms Mordaunt told me that she abstained because “she was not a supporter of the bill. She has many objections to it. The practicality of it. The implementation and enforcement of it. But being a serving cabinet minister she thought voting against it would look more confrontational and posturing than abstaining would have been.”

Who could that possibly be a dig at? Ah, Kemi Badenoch.

And what do Ms Mordaunt and Ms Badenoch have in common? A splash of ambition.

They are both talked up by some as future Conservative leaders.

When you look at the numbers, nearly half of Conservative MPs couldn’t bring themselves to endorse one of their leader’s flagship ideas of the last six months.

Which tells you something about the fractious nature of the Conservative parliamentary party, although not a lot that wasn’t pretty clear to the regular observer already.

Labour are already gleefully talking up that it is a good job they backed the idea or Mr Sunak would have lost.

And they are also publicly pondering what those opponents might do once the chance arises to change the ideas, to bolt on amendments.

But then again they would be defeated if those in favour keep backing the plan as it is.

When governments manage to latch on to a plan which goes with the grain of where a society is already heading, the might of the law can shove it along profoundly and, probably, permanently.

The United States has been working to strengthen defence cooperation with its allies in the Asia-Pacific region to counter China’s growing influence, but also wants to maintain lines of communication with Beijing to prevent tensions from spiraling out of control.

“The two officials discussed US-PRC defence relations and regional and global security issues,” the Pentagon said in a statement, referring to the People’s Republic of China.

“Secretary Austin emphasised the importance of continuing to open lines of military-to-military communication between the United States and the PRC” following talks between the two sides in recent months, the statement said.

Austin also “reiterated that the United States will continue to fly, sail, and operate — safely and responsibly — wherever international law allows,” and “underscored the importance of respect for high seas freedom of navigation guaranteed under international law, especially in the South China Sea”.

Austin’s last significant interaction with a Chinese counterpart occurred in November 2022 in Cambodia.

The United Nations Security Council will vote Thursday on the Palestinians’ application to become a full UN member state, several diplomatic sources have told AFP.

Amid Israel’s military offensive in Gaza, the Palestinians in early April revived a membership application first made to the world body in 2011, though the veto-wielding United States has repeatedly expressed opposition to the proposal.

The General Assembly can admit a new member state with a two-thirds majority vote, but only after the Security Council gives its recommendation.

Regional bloc the Arab Group issued a statement Tuesday affirming its “unwavering support” for the Palestinians’ application.

“Membership in the United Nations is a crucial step in the right direction towards a just and lasting resolution of the Palestinian question in line with international law and relevant UN resolutions,” the statement said.

Algeria, a non-permanent Security Council member, has drafted the resolution that “recommends” to the General Assembly “the State of Palestine be admitted to membership of the United Nations.”

The vote on Thursday will coincide with a Security Council meeting scheduled several weeks ago to discuss the situation in Gaza, which ministers from several Arab countries are expected to attend.

The Palestinians — who have had observer status at the United Nations since 2012 — have lobbied for years to gain full membership.

“We are seeking admission. That is our natural and legal right,” Riyad Mansour, the Palestinian ambassador to the United Nations, said in April.

According to the Palestinian side, 137 of the 193 UN member states already recognize a Palestinian state, raising hope that their request would be supported in the General Assembly.

But the Palestinian push for UN membership faces a major hurdle, as the United States — Israel’s closest ally — could use its veto power to block the Security Council recommendation.

“We call on all members of the Security Council to vote in favor of the draft resolution… At the very least, we implore Council members not to obstruct this critical initiative,” the Arab Group said Tuesday.

The United States has voiced its opposition to full Palestinian membership, saying it backed statehood but only after negotiations with Israel, while pointing to US laws that would require cuts to UN funding if such a move took place without a bilateral agreement.

“That is something that should be done through direct negotiations through the parties, something we are pursuing at this time, and not at the United Nations,” State Department spokesman Matthew Miller told reporters in April.

Israel’s UN Ambassador Gilad Erdan has strongly opposed the Palestinian membership bid, saying in mid-April the considerations were “already a victory for genocidal terror.”

“The Security Council is deliberating granting the perpetrators and supporters of October 7 full membership status in the UN,” Erdan said.

Hamas launched an unprecedented attack against Israel on October 7, resulting in the deaths of 1,170 people in Israel, mostly civilians, according to Israeli figures.

Israel’s retaliatory offensive has killed over 33,000 people in Gaza, mostly women and children, according to the health ministry in the Hamas-run territory.

JERUSALEM: Israel and Iran traded threats on Tuesday after Tehran’s first-ever direct attack on its arch-foe sharply heightened regional tensions as the Gaza war ground on with no truce in sight.

Israeli military spokesman Rear Admiral Daniel Hagari said Iran would not get off “scot-free” after Iran launched a barrage of over 300 missiles, drones and rockets at Israel at the weekend.

“We cannot stand still from this kind of aggression,” Hag­ari said, a day after Israel’s mil­itary chief vowed there would be “a response” to Iran’s offensive.

Iran said its attack was an act of self-defence following a deadly Israeli air strike on its consulate in Syria and that it would consider the matter “concluded” unless Israel retaliated.

Putin, Erdogan join list of world leaders calling for restraint; US warns of further sanctions on Tehran

Iran’s President Ebrahim Raisi warned that “the slightest action against Iran’s interests will definitely be met with a severe, extensive and painful response”.

Israel weighs options

Israel was weighing its options after the Iranian drone and missile onslaught, which caused little damage as Israeli defences intercepted most projectiles, helped by US, British and French forces, as well as regional allies.

It remained unclear when Israel might strike and whe­ther it would target Iran dir­e­ctly or attack its interests or allies abroad, including in Leb­anon, Syria, Iraq and Yemen.

Israel made its first official comment on Monday on the strike that levelled a five-storey Iranian consulate building on April 1, killing seven Ira­nian Revolutionary Guards, including two generals.

“These were people who engaged in terrorism against the State of Israel,” Hagari said.

Calls for restraint

Meanwhile, world leaders have urged restraint and de-escalation.

During a phone call with Raisi, Russian President Vladimir Putin called on both sides to “show reasonable restraint and prevent a new round of confrontation,” the Kremlin said in a readout of the call.

He warned that further escalation in the Middle East could have “catastrophic consequences”.

Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan said on Tuesday that Israel’s Netanyahu and the Israeli leadership are solely responsible for the recent escalation of tensions.

“Israel is trying to provoke a regional conflict, and its attack on Iran’s embassy in Damascus was the last drop,” he told a press conference in Ankara after a cabinet meeting.

He added that new regional conflicts were possible as long as the “cruelty and genocide” in Gaza continued, and called on all parties to act with common sense.

In a statement, Portugal’s foreign ministry also urged de-escalation in the Middle East.

A day ago, US President Joe Biden stressed that “the United States is committed to Israel’s security” and wants to prevent the conflict from spreading.

Washington, Israel’s top ally and arms supplier, has made clear it will not join Israel in any attack on their common adversary Iran, a senior US official said.

More sanctions

Israeli Foreign Minister Israel Katz called on 32 countries to impose sanctions on Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps and their missile programme.

German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock, who will head to Israel on Tuesday, urged the European Union to impose sanctions on Iranian drone technology.

“I campaigned in late autumn together with France and other partners within the European Union for this drone sanctions regime to be extended further,” she said, adding she also wanted it to cover “other missile technologies in Iran’s arsenal”.

“I hope that we can now finally take this step together.”

Also on Tuesday, US Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen warned of further sanctions targeting Iran, saying she expects Washington will take added action “in the coming days.”

“I fully expect that we will take additional sanctions action against Iran in the coming days,” she said as this week’s spring meetings of the International Monetary Fund and World Bank began in Washington.

The Treasury, Ms Yellen said, will not hesitate to work with US allies to “use our sanctions authority to continue disrupting the Iranian regime’s malign and destabilizing activity.”

Humza Yousaf insisted that “anyone affected” by misogyny would be covered, whatever their biological sex.

He also insisted the Scottish government would not spend an “inordinate” amount of time deciding whether to follow the recommendations of the recent Cass Review into gender care.

The Scottish government wants to introduce a bill to tackle misogyny before the end of the current parliamentary term in 2026, following a review carried out by the human rights lawyer Baroness Helena Kennedy KC.

Women were not included in the recent Hate Crime and Public Order (Scotland) Act 2021 that was introduced on 1 April – a decision that Mr Yousaf said had followed discussions with a number of women’s groups.

When asked whether fresh legislation would cover transgender women, Mr Yousaf said that it would, as whoever was directing misogynistic abuse would be unaware if a woman was trans or not.

Separate law

He told the BBC’s Good Morning Scotland programme: “Women and girls will be protected, and trans women will be protected as well, as they will often be the ones who suffer threats of rape or threats of disfigurement for example.

“When a trans woman is walking down the street and a threat of rape is made against them, the man making the threat doesn’t know if they are a trans woman or a cis woman. They will make that threat because the perception of that person [is] as a woman.”

The first minister added that the bill would be proceeding with “urgency and pace”, due to the number of women who have “raised concerns” over sex not being covered within the recent hate crime bill.

Baroness Kennedy’s report had recommended the creation of a separate law to tackle “the spectrum of misogynistic conduct”, rather than including it in the hate crime law.

A government spokesperson previously said that a misogyny bill would “create a new focus on protecting women and girls to address criminal behaviour motivated purely by misogyny”.

The Cass review was released last week

Figures released by Police Scotland on Tuesday showed that the number of online hate reports dropped by almost 75% in the second week since the introduction of the new hate crime legislation.

There were 1,832 online hate reports received between 8 and 14 April, down from 7,152 the previous week.

The vast majority of reports received were anonymous, and resulted in no action being taken.

There were 213 hate crimes recorded in the same period, down from 240 the previous week, with officers also recording 25 non-crime hate incidents, five fewer than between the previous week.

During a ministerial statement in parliament on Tuesday, Justice Secretary Angela Constance said the government could have “done more” to inform people about the new law.

She said: “I accept that the Scottish government could have done more to inform people about this act as well as our wider approach to tackling hate crime and prejudice.

“However, let’s be clear even if the government had produced more information bad faith actors who are intent on spreading misinformation would have done so regardless.”

‘Not enough evidence’

Mr Yousaf also said that “all aspects” of the recent review by Dr Hilary Cass into NHS England’s gender identity services for under-18s would be considered by the Scottish government.

The review was released last week and found the evidence base for medical interventions in gender care for young people had been “remarkably weak” and that children had been let down by a “toxic” public discourse around gender.

Mr Yousaf did not rule out halting the routine prescription of puberty blockers – a move the NHS in England has already made after the Cass review stated there was “not enough evidence” for them.

He said: “Every recommendation that Dr Cass makes will be considered as part of that consideration of the entire report including the recommendations that she makes in relation to puberty blockers, and that is one element of the recommendations that Dr Cass makes.

“There’s a number of recommendations – all of them will be given consideration.”

However, the first minister said that the prescription of treatments should be one made by clinicians rather than politicians.

The Scottish government has come under pressure to scrap the use of puberty blockers, with SNP MP Joanna Cherry, Alba Party MSP Ash Regan and Scottish Conservative deputy leader Meghan Gallacher calling for a review.

Dr Cass said last week that “we don’t have good evidence” that puberty blockers are safe to use to “arrest puberty”, adding that what started out as a clinical trial had been expanded to a wider group of young people before the results of that trial were available.

She said: “It is unusual for us to give a potentially life-changing treatment to young people and not know what happens to them in adulthood, and that’s been a particular problem that we haven’t had the follow-up into adulthood to know what the results of this are.”

The Tavistock Clinic in London – which offered gender services – was closed this year, but the first minister said Scotland’s hub at the Sandyford Clinic in Glasgow would not suffer the same fate.

He said: “Sandyford provides, we know, some exceptional health care to some of those who are the most marginalised and vulnerable. Not just young people, but right across the spectrum.”

He added that the Scottish government would look into the possibility of opening more regional hubs and said that ministers “won’t be taking an inordinate amount of time to consider” the Cass review’s findings.

The Scottish Conservatives said the first minister was “stalling for time and passing the buck to clinicians”.

The party’s deputy leader Meghan Gallacher said: “It’s not good enough to say he and health boards need more time to look at Dr Cass’s report, and it’s an abdication of leadership not to pause the prescribing of puberty blockers in the interim.”

The Alba Party MSP Ash Regan said the first minister’s reference to cis women was “offensive”.

She added “Women are not a subclass of our sex. Trans-identifying people are protected under the Hate Crime and Public Order Act 2021, yet despite crime against women being a scourge in our society, women are not.”

The author JK Rowling, who has been an outspoken critic of the Hate Crime Act, said the first minister’s remarks showed “absolute contempt” for women.

On X, formerly known as Twitter, she said: “Women were excluded from his nonsensical hate crime law, now he introduces a ‘misogyny law’ designed to also protect men.”