Joanna Cherry has my support, says SNP Westminster leader Stephen Flynn

Ms Cherry is threatening to sue a comedy club after it cancelled an event over her views on trans rights

The SNP’s Westminster leader has said Joanna Cherry has his support after she threatened to sue a comedy club for cancelling the Edinburgh Festival Fringe show she was set to appear in because of her views on trans rights.

Stephen Flynn said he did not agree with Ms Cherry, the SNP MP Edinburgh South West, on the wider topic but would “defend her right to able to ensure that her voice is heard”.

Lawyers acting for Ms Cherry wrote to the The Stand Comedy Club on Monday demanding the venue issue a statement acknowledging it “has acted unlawfully by discriminating against our client”, apologise, and reinstates the August event, and if not legal action would begin.

The SNP's Stephen Flynn

She said: “I am prepared to take whatever legal action is necessary to vindicate my right to not be misrepresented and not to be discriminated against.”

The club had been set to host an event in which Ms Cherry was to be interviewed, as part of a series of In Conversation… shows, but the Stand said “key operational staff” had raised concerns about the MP’s views and made clear they did not want to work at the event.

Ms Cherry has been a vocal critic of the Scottish Government’s gender recognition reforms.

Announcing the threat to take legal action, unless they agreed to the “reasonable requests”, Ms Cherry said the action was “not about money”.

“My primary goal is to have the actions of The Stand acknowledged as unlawful and to ensure the event proceeds,” she said. “I have asked The Stand to apologise to me too. If they don’t agree with my reasonable requests, I intend to ask the court to decide on the issue.

“I hope that my actions in defending myself will give courage to everyone particularly women who wish to express views on legitimate issues of public interest. That, after all, is the very job of a politician and one of the reasons I entered politics in the first place.”

Ms Cherry, herself a King’s Counsel, said she had been “greatly heartened by the support” and that she had “received the opinion of the eminent and leading human rights advocate Aidan O’Neill KC who considers that The Stand have acted unlawfully”.

Last week, the club, co-founded by SNP MP Tommy Sheppard, said: “Further to our previous policy statement on this matter, following extensive discussions with our staff it has become clear that a number of the Stand’s key operational staff, including venue management and box office personnel, are unwilling to work on this event.

“As we have previously stated, we will ensure that their views are respected. We will not compel our staff to work on this event and so have concluded that the event is unable to proceed on a properly staffed, safe and legally compliant basis.”

Speaking on the BBC’s Good Morning Scotland programme, Mr Flynn said: “As a point of principle, I don’t agree with Joanna on this wider topic, but I would defend her right to able to ensure that her voice is heard and hopefully a compromise position can be found.”

Asked if he would be making that point to Mr Sheppard, Mr Flynn said: “It’s not my position to delve into an issue directly relating to a business and indeed who they want to come and speak to them, but Joanna knows that she very much has my support on this issue and hopefully a compromise can be found.”