One of Nicola Sturgeon’s closest allies privately urged taxpayer-funded LGBT campaigners to lobby Scottish politicians to support the SNP’s gender reforms, records show. Critics raised fears that ministers were inappropriately encouraging supportive lobbyists to “amplify” the Government’s position and “delegitimise” opponents, ahead of the highly contentious legislation being laid at Holyrood. Lucy Hunter-Blackburn, a former senior Scottish Government civil servant …
