John Swinney defends Nicola Sturgeon's trans comments as 'fair and justifiable'

John Swinney has defended Nicola Sturgeon’s comments on the Supreme Court ruling over the definition of a woman as “fair and justifiable”.

The former first minister on Tuesday broke her silence on the court ruling and said the judgment risked making life for trans people “unliveable”.

This comes after the UK Supreme Court ruled the legal definition of the terms “woman” and “sex” in the Equality Act 2010 refers to biological sex.

John Swinney and Nicola Sturgeon pictured in Holyrood in 2023 | Press Association.

Campaigners have demanded both Mr Swinney and Ms Sturgeon should apologise for women for trying to push through gender reforms and for issuing guidance that trans people should be allowed into single-sex spaces.

Mr Swinney told the BBC: “I think Nicola Sturgeon made a fair and justifiable observation.

“It is similar to what I said after the Supreme Court ruling. I said we would respect the rights of all within society, but feared for the anxiety and worry in the trans community in the aftermath of the Supreme Court judgement, which I totally and utterly accept.”

Mr Swinney said his Government would “obviously” engage with the Equality and Human Rights Commission as it draws up guidance on single-sex spaces in the wake of the court verdict.

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When asked if he and Ms Sturgeon should apologise for pushing through gender reforms in the Scottish Parliament, Mr Swinney said: “There is a tremendous amount of difficulty and hurt in this debate on all sides.

“Part of my role as First Minister is to do something about that by bringing people together - that’s been the hallmark of my leadership.

“We’ve gone through a democratic process in good faith and my purpose now is to bring people together in unity and cohesion.”

Ms Sturgeon was quizzed on Tuesday on her thoughts on the Equality and Human Rights Commission’s interim guidance, which states trans people should not use the single-sex spaces of their acquired gender.

She said: “I would be very concerned with that interim guidance if that became the final guidance. I hope that’s not the case. I think that potentially makes the lives of trans people almost unliveable.

“I don’t think it’s inevitable that we go from the Supreme Court judgment to a situation where trans lives become impossibly difficult.”

SNP backbencher Michelle Thomson has called on both Mr Swinney and Ms Sturgeon to apologise to women who had to “fight tooth and nail” for the right to single-sex spaces.

Mr Swinney, however, said Holyrood had had a “very, very extensive democratic debate” on such matters when it considered legislation that was ultimately blocked by Westminster. The Gender Recognition Reform (Scotland) Bill would have allowed transgender Scots to self-identify in their preferred gender, without needing to go through a medical process.

The First Minister said on Wednesday: “On two occasions, courts in Scotland supported the interpretation of the law that had been applied by the Scottish Government, which was based on guidance from the Equality and Human Rights Commission.”

But he added: “I accept the Supreme Court, the ultimate decision maker on the interpretation of the law, has taken a different view.”