Immediately after the Scottish National Party-dominated parliament unveiled a new bill that would provide every child in the state a state guardian, a charity has threatened the state that it will be dragging it to court to protect the rights of the children's parents.
The Telegraph said the Christian Institute expressed its intention to defend family life in Scotland against the intrusion of the state via the guardian proposal. The UK newspaper said the charity has tapped one of the most eminent Queen's Counsel, or independent bar, and stated that the Children and Young People (Scotland) Bill violated the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR).
Charity director Colin Hart said, "We do not take such action lightly. However, there is a clear need to take such an unusual step. Senior politicians and the law officers have the powers to act as and when required. It is clear that this Bill breaches European rules through its attack on the family. This is Big Brother politics writ large. Ordinary Scots should be very afraid."
According to the new bill, NHS will be assigning a health worker to every child as a "named person" until he or she turns five years of age. The responsibility over the child, said the Telegraph, will be passed to councils until the child reaches of legal age, which is 18. By then, the child will be looked after by teachers, based from the bill.
The Telegraph said the intention of passing the Children and Young People (Scotland) Bill was to ensure that any forms of abuse or developmental difficulties are brought to light early so it could be addressed soon.
During deliberations of the bill, Conservative parliament members were unable to convince a majority vote to propose that the state should only award a guardian if concerns over the well-being of a child has been raised. Moreover, they were unable to reduce the upper age limit of children who would be subject to the state guardian law from 18 to 16, said the newspaper. Nationalist-dominated Scottish Parliament reportedly voted down Tory amendments for the state guardian bill, of which the Telegraph said would have limited the scope of the new legislature.
