Nicola Sturgeon said the constitutional dispute over the Gender Recognition Reform Bill will "inevitably" end up in court.

The First Minister said the Scottish Government will “vigorously" defend the Bill, passed at Holyrood, but which the UK Government is seeking to prevent becoming law.

As Alister Jack, the Scottish Secretary confirmed the UK Government was blocking the bill with a Section 35 order, Ms Sturgeon said there was “no justification” for that action.

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The UK Government says it will have a detrimental impact on UK laws on single-sex spaces included in the Equality Act.

Mr Jack said: "This is not about preventing the Scottish Parliament from legislating on devolved matters, but about ensuring we do not have legal frameworks in one part of the United Kingdom which has adverse effects on reserved matters.

"We should be clear that this is absolutely not about the United Kingdom Government being able to veto Scottish Parliament legislation whenever it chooses, as some have implied.”

Ms Sturgeon however said concerns, if they existed, should have been raised before now

She said: "There's not an iota of good faith on the part of the UK Government on this issue.

"I'm very, very certain there's no good faith here.

"If there had been these concerns, and I still don't understand the basis for these concerns about the interaction with the Equality Act, (they) would have been raised at a much, much earlier stage through some of the formal processes that are in existence."

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The First Minister said the legislation would "inevitably end up in court".

She added: "I can say categorically the Scottish Government will vigorously defend this legislation, but in doing so we will be vigorously defending something else, and that is the institution of the Scottish Parliament, the ability of MSPs - democratically elected - to legislate in areas of our competence.

"In short, we'll be defending Scottish democracy."