In her speech to parliament last week ahead of the Conservative/DUP deal, the Queen committed to protecting citizens from discrimination “on the basis of their race, faith, gender, disability or sexual orientation”, reports Pink News.

A lack of a concrete agenda on the subject prompted SNP Equalities spokesperson and MP for MP for Lanark and Hamilton East, Angela Crawley MP, to compose an open letter citing“deep concerns that the Tory backroom deal with the DUP could halt progress on equality.”

In an open letter to Conservative party leader and PM Theresa May, Crawley, who identifies as LGBT, writes that “many LGBTI people across the country have deep reservations about the Tory deal with the DUP, and are concerned that it may halt, or even reverse, progress on LGBTI equality.”

“The absence of any LGBTI equality legislation from the UK government’s legislative agenda for the next two years, as laid out in the Queen’s Speech, will compound concerns that LGBTI equality is being sidelined for reasons of political expediency.”

Crawley continues, seeking assurances on a number of points including: whether the UK government will introduce amendments to same-sex marriage law to allow couples from Northern Ireland, and elsewhere, to convert their civil partnerships to marriage (“If not, why not?”); when changes to existing gender recognition laws will be made; and whether the UK government will acknowledge calls for the full devolution of equality law so that the Scottish Parliament can protect and extend LGBT equality.

The full text of Crawley’s letter is available on Pink News.