Civil service participation in Pride
Following the High Court ruling against Northumbria Police on 16 July 2025, which said participation in Pride marches breached the force’s impartiality duties, we sent the following letter to the Permanent Secretary for Scotland to raise similar concerns about a breach of the civil service duty of impartiality. Representatives of the civil service chose to march in Glasgow Pride just a few days after the judgment was handed down, despite Pride organisers making it clear that only those who supported its protest against the FWS Supreme Court ruling were welcome to attend.
View letter as a PDF
Mr Griffin responded just over a week later, and only to say that “Given the points raised I am copying to colleagues in the Cabinet Office who will respond directly in due course”. On 20 August we received the following letter from the Cabinet Office which promised a substantive formal reply in due course.
View letter as a PDF
We never did receive any further correspondence from the Cabinet Office, despite several follow up requests. However, as reported in the Telegraph, The Christian Institute raised similar points and has now begun legal action to stop officials participating on behalf of the Civil Service, at taxpayers’ expense, in Pride marches across the country. It seems that the UK Government operates no differently from the Scottish Government in that complaints cannot be discussed and resolved without resorting to the courts.