THE Scottish Greens have hit out at the UK Government for scrapping plans to allow people to change their legal gender by “self-identifying” as a different sex.

Scottish Greens co-leader Lorna Slater said Boris Johnson is "rolling back on equalities legislation" by ditching measures drawn up under Theresa May’s government to enable transgender people change their birth certificate without a medical diagnosis.

The Sunday Times reported that instead ministers plan to announce a ban on “gay cure” therapies, in what was described as an attempt to placate LGBT people.

At the same time, the Government was said to be preparing to set out new safeguards to protect female-only spaces – including refuges and public lavatories – to stop them being used by those with male anatomy.

The details were said to be contained in a leaked paper setting out the Government’s long-delayed response to a public consultation on the Gender Recognition Act.

The Sunday Times said that the paper was “basically ready” and was being slated for publication by the equalities minister Liz Truss at the end of July before MPs break for the summer.

A No 10 source told the PA news agency that the details of the response were yet to be finalised, and the Prime Minister would have the final say on the recommendations.

According to The Sunday Times, around 100,000 responses to the public consultation were received – with around 70% in favour of allowing people to self-identify as a man or a woman.

However, officials were said to believe that the results had been “skewed” by an “avalanche” of responses generated by trans rights groups.

The paper quoted a source as saying: “In terms of changing what is on your birth certificate, you will still need to have proper medical approval.

“And you’re not going to be able to march in and find a hippie quack doctor who is willing to say you’re a woman. That’s not going to happen.”

The source added: “There will be big moves on safe spaces and women-only toilets and and a total ban on ‘gay cure’ therapies.”

Lorna Slater said: “With one of the worst records on tackling the coronavirus pandemic in the world, and with right wing violence on the streets of our cities, the Prime Minister has picked this moment to reveal he is rolling back on equalities legislation.

“Excluding trans people from refuges and other safe spaces places them in even more significant danger than they are already in. This is a community which already suffers from abuse, violence and poor mental health yet are being cruelly portrayed as predators.

“But this backward step hurts us all. The right wants to divide the equalities movement, and we must not let that happen. Feminism needs to be intersectional, otherwise we all lose, which is why the Scottish Greens women’s network introduced a pledge of solidarity with our trans and non-binary siblings, with the support of the Rainbow Greens.

“Some of the new laws are reserved to Westminster, but we urge the Scottish Government not to relent to pressure from the right and stand firm with the evidence when it comes to devolved GRA reform.”

The Scottish Government has delayed gender self-ID plans to tackle the coronavirus crisis.