The Scottish Labour leader wants Scottish bodies to immediately enforce interim guidance from the equalities watchdog

Anas Sarwar has insisted that John Swinney should immediately instruct Scottish public bodies to ban transgender people from using toilets of their acquired gender.

The Scottish Labour leader was speaking after the Supreme Court ruled that a woman in the UK Equality Act refers to a biological woman. Transgender people can still legally become their acquired gender through the Gender Recognition Act.

Scottish Labour leader Anas Sarwar | Jane Barlow/PA Wire

In the wake of the judgment, the equalities watchdog, the Equalities and Human Rights Commission (EHRC) has published interim guidance ahead of full advice that will be confirmed in the summer and will need the sign-off of UK Labour ministers.

The interim guidance states that trans men should not use men's toilets and single-sex spaces and trans women should not use women’s toilets and single-sex spaces.

Yesterday, the First Minister told journalists that public bodies should wait for the full guidance to be published - suggesting that the interim guidance should be looked at cautiously to potential avoid legal difficulties.

Mr Swinney said that public bodies and organisations should instead "wait for definitive full guidance" to "give legal clarity".

First Minister John Swinney during a press conference in Bute House, Edinburgh

But the Scottish Labour leader has insisted that “there should be no delay” in Mr Swinney’s government imposing the interim guidance on public bodies.

Speaking to The Scotsman, Mr Sarwar said: “The Supreme Court ruling was unequivocal. It gave much-needed clarity to public services and public sector bodies.

“They should be implementing that without delay. Any sense of delay, I think, would feel uncomfortable and also unacceptable.”

The EHRC interim guidance is vague about which spaces transgender people should use.

It states that “in some circumstances the law also allows trans women not to be permitted to use the men’s facilities, and trans men not to be permitted to use the women’s facilities”.

But it adds that “where facilities are available to both men and women, trans people should not be put in a position where there are no facilities for them to use”.

Asked where trans people should go to use the bathroom, Mr Sarwar said: “I don’t police toilets and I support single-sex spaces based on biological sex.

“That has always been our position to accept the premise of the Equality Act.”

Anas Sarwar calls for John Swinney to enforce transgender toilet ban with 'no delay'

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