IT IS HARD to believe that the controversy surrounding the SNP's disastrous Gender Recognition Bill is still creating headlines in Scottish politics.

After all, it was as far back as December that my colleagues and I sat in the Scottish Parliament, way into the early hours of the morning, debating countless amendments to this Bill, only to see the SNP Government stubbornly refuse to accept any meaningful changes.

This was despite the fact that numerous organisations had raised significant concerns about the new legislation, which would have made it far easier for someone to legally change their gender by allowing people to do this merely through self-identification.

I have long been supportive of the idea that the current process for changing your gender could be simplified in various ways, but I could not support the SNP's method of doing this, which went too far in removing important safeguards from the current process.

When I was a member of the Scottish Parliament's Equalities Committee, I first raised serious concerns about the SNP's planned reforms years ago. Even back then, it was clear that their proposals would not only face practical problems, but that they risked running into legal issues too.

This was proven in January, when the UK Government took the unprecedented step of blocking the Gender Recognition Bill from becoming law. Predictably, this decision was met with outrage from the SNP, who claimed the UK Government was 'not respecting Scottish democracy'.

However, the truth is that while Scotland rightly has one of the most powerful devolved parliaments in the world, it cannot pass legislation that risks undermining UK-wide laws.

Despite this, Scotland's new first minister confirmed last week that he will be challenging this decision in court.

There will be several different reasons behind Nicola Sturgeon's resignation; however, it would be naïve to suggest that the furore surrounding the Gender Recognition Bill was not one of them.

Yet Humza Yousaf has clearly taken a look at the political chaos caused by this ill-thought-out Bill and has decided to create more of it.

Even before looking at the numerous opinion polls on this subject, it is clear that the Scottish public simply do not support these proposals.

There is no doubt either that they are even less supportive of the Scottish Government spending potentially hundreds of thousands of pounds of taxpayer's cash on this legal challenge.

Ultimately though, the current first minister's determination to challenge the UK Government only shows the lengths that he and his government are willing to go to in order to stir up constitutional grievances.

Grievances which will then be used to try and stoke the flames of the independence debate, as well as vain attempt to deflect the spotlight from his party's more immediate difficulties.

So, whether it is the Gender Recognition Bill, or a second independence referendum, it is patently clear by even this early stage that the Yousaf era of government is no more than continuity and is set to carry on the legacy of division that has been the norm in Scottish politics for far too long.