Conversion therapy Scotland: Plans for ban must not criminalise parents, says Scottish Labour's Anas Sarwar

The leader of Scottish Labour said lessons should also be learned from the gender recognition debate

Plans to ban "conversion therapy" in Scotland must not criminalise parents, the leader of Scottish Labour has warned.

Anas Sarwar said parents must be "allowed to do their job" and should not have that taken away from them by the state. He said lessons must also be learned from the debate around gender recognition reforms in Scotland.

Mr Sarwar made the comments in an exclusive interview with The Scotsman in the build-up to the Scottish Labour conference in Glasgow.

Scottish Labour leader Anas Sarwar

Elsewhere, he said he was “yet to be persuaded” on a proposed pilot of juryless rape trials.

Ministers published plans to ban conversion therapy as part of a consultation last month, sparking immediate concerns from religious groups.

The proposals include introducing new laws to criminalise the practice, which sees people attempt to change or suppress the gender identity or sexual orientation of another. The Catholic Church in Scotland warned the law could create a “chilling effect”.

Officials in the Scottish Government previously said they would “reflect” on concerns about the impact on family life. There are fears the move risks criminalising parents who do not let their child dress as the opposite gender, or who do not let them take puberty blockers, for example.

Mr Sarwar said he backed a ban "in principle", but warned: "We can't make the mistakes we made in the GRR [Gender Recognition Reform] Bill, and we can't criminalise parents."

He said: "What I would urge is, for all of us who want to see a ban on conversion therapy and the practices that right across the board people would find horrific, I hope we can learn the lessons from the GRR Bill debate and not make those same mistakes in terms of the process around the conversion therapy Bill, and that we can have a genuine open dialogue that gives people the reassurance that they need, but also installs any necessary safeguards in the legislation itself to provide that reassurance, rather than just relying on people's better nature. I hope that would happen.

"I think the second thing is, we can't be in a situation where we are criminalising parents. Parents have to, rightly and legitimately, have a knowledge of impacts on their children and be allowed to do their job as parents, and not have that job taken away from them by the state.

"Now, that's not to say there aren't circumstances where the state of course has to step in – social care being one prime example of that, when in horrific circumstances social work does have to step in and take on the role of parent in some cases.

"But I think on this, if it looked like there was breaching into a parent's rights, I think that would be a very negative place for us to be."

Plans to pilot juryless rape trials amid concerns about conviction rates have also caused controversy, with many lawyers already threatening a boycott.

Mr Sarwar said a “happy medium” could instead be explored, which could include “more direct engagement between the jury and the judge”.

He said: "I am open-minded to be persuaded, but I'm yet to be persuaded that the pilot is the right answer right now. If it can be demonstrated that there will be adequate safeguards and mechanisms in place to ensure that we don't end up going too far the other direction, then that would give us the reassurance, but I've yet to hear that reassurance."